Mad About You
by mabelreid
Summary: Sequel to "Sleeping with Reid" Reid and Emily attempt to keep their relationship a secret and out of the BAU with humorous results
1. The GreenEyed Monster

**_Disclaimer: See my profile_**

**_A/n hey all… Here's my new sequel to "Sleeping with Reid." It really doesn't have a cohesive plot, it's just a series of funny incidents as Reid and Emily try to keep their relationship a secret. I don't know how often I will update, but I'll try not to be a long time between chapters. Many thanks to my fabulous beta, REIDFANATIC for her ideas and her willing ear. _**

**_The Green-Eyed Monster _**

Reid hitched his messenger bag on his shoulder and smoothed down his hair. The elevator seemed to be crawling along that day as he tried to be invisible. This proved to be impossible as no one else but the person he least wanted to see, rode the elevator with him.

Agent Jarrett had walked into the lobby at the same time as he did, and had greeted him in what he thought was excessive over enthusiasm for Monday morning. Now she stood leaning against the far wall of the elevator with one leg crossed over the other under a dark blue skirt. She kept smiling at him and playing with the edge of her jacket.

He tried to smile politely and ignore her, but she kept going on and on about her weekend and how much she enjoyed her time at home watching movies_. _

"I finally had the chance to go shopping and guess what?" She asked excitedly.

"What?" He asked automatically while trying to inch away from her to the other side of the car.

"I found a copy of the new Star Trek movie on sale at Amazon and it was so cool. Did you like it better than the original? What do you think of the new cast? I thought Chris Pine was so good as Captain Kirk. I mean it's not the same as the original, but he was good. I thought it was so sad that his dad died saving his life all because of that crazy Klingon."

"Romulan," Reid found himself disputing testily.

"Whatever… Anyway I thought the relationship with Spock and Ohura was kind of icky."

_Icky! _

The doors opened on the sixth floor to a busy bullpen. He was about to sigh with relief when she followed him out of the elevator continuing her rundown of the movie's plot. "…I thought the guy they got to play Scotty was hilarious. I mean, it was like he was channeling the other guy on the show. It was really cool. What did you think?"

She walked in front of him and stopped, forcing him to halt and look her right in the eye. "Maybe you and I could get together and watch it together this weekend. We could _discuss_ our favorite parts."

_Did she just put more emphasis on the word discuss than it needed? _

_Emily was right about her. I need to get out of here fast._

He looked around desperately and found Morgan in front of his desk. "Um… Looks like Morgan's waiting for me. I better get going. We have a weekly briefing right now." He ducked around her without saying goodbye, missing how her eyes followed him with adoring cluelessness.

He hurried away as fast as he could without looking like he was trying to escape. Morgan was talking to Emily who looked up, caught his eyes then looked behind him at Jarrett. Something flashed in her eyes and his hands went cold. Why was she mad at him? He hadn't done anything wrong.

"Hey Reid…" Morgan said. "I was just asking Emily how her Sunday went. She's not talking. You don't know why that is, do you?"

"Shut up Morgan… It's time for our briefing." Emily smacked him with a file. "My weekends are my business."

"Whoa… Stand down Prentiss," Morgan held up his hands. "Just asking!"

She stalked out of the bullpen and up toward the conference room without another word to either man. "What's the matter with Prentiss this morning?" Morgan asked Reid while squeezing the younger man's shoulder with one big hand.

"I don't know… Why do you think I would know?" Reid squeaked.

"Because she was the last one to leave your place Saturday night; I thought maybe you two hung out together and bonded."

"We didn't do anything!"

"You don't have to sound so guilty man. I don't care if you made her sit through re-runs of Star Trek instead of getting some lovin' you so _desperately_ need."

"I don't _need_ anything!"

"You don't have to sound so indignant kid. I'm just saying that you had a beautiful woman in your place alone and you should have made your move."

"Don't tell me when to 'make my move."

Reid picked up a file at random from his pile and poked his head into it because his face was feeling very hot.

"They're waiting for us upstairs Reid. It's nine o'clock, or did you forget."

"No…" He jumped up, almost stumbled over his go bag and hurried to the stairs.

"You are jumpy kid. You definitely need to find a woman."

"Shut up!"

Morgan caught up with him halfway past Rossi's office. "Don't worry, I know a few women that would love to get to know you better."

"I don't need a woman Morgan." He hissed at his friend.

He slammed into the briefing room while Morgan followed at a slower pace. He noticed Reid sitting well away from Prentiss. It looked like they'd had some kind of fight. More than likely Reid had said something to her during the move that had pissed her off. Of course, the kid wouldn't realize what he'd done. Morgan watched them look anywhere but at each other. He decided he needed to find the underlying cause of that little puzzle.

---

Reid jumped when a hand fell on his shoulder. "Hey there Dr Reid, I have a priority mail envelope for you from Phoenix."

He looked up to see the blond, green-eyed Agent Carrie Willow standing right behind him. Her white lab coat hung open to reveal a white tank top under a dark purple shirt she wore with the top three buttons undone. Her hair, piled on her head in a messy bun had little ringlets hanging down around her face. Her eyes twinkled at him from out behind a pair of tortoise shell glasses.

"Ah… Thank you Agent Willow."

"You're welcome Dr. Reid." She winked at him and sashayed away from his desk.

"Where's my mail Willow," Morgan called out.

"Sorry Agent Morgan… I don't know what happened to it. I'll get right on it."

Reid let his eyes wander over to Emily who was glaring at him out from under her bangs. Why was she so mad? Okay, so he'd been getting a lot of attention all day, but it wasn't as if he was flirting back. The others would lose interest if he just ignored them, right.

"Way to go Reid," Morgan chuckled. "Girls like it when we ignore them. They like the chase."

_Great! Now what was he supposed to do?_

---

Emily slapped down the last folder on her desk irritated that the briefing hadn't included them flying off somewhere. Instead, she'd been stuck sitting across from Spencer, trying to stay angry with him when he just sat there looking cute, and sweet, and oblivious.

She glanced over at Morgan who was looking at her with a smirk. She glared at him, picked up her purse and decided that lunch was in order.

"Wait up Prentiss. You going down to the cafeteria?"

Emily looked back over her shoulder at Morgan and Reid who looked at her with equal expressions of misery and amusement.

"Yeah… And I don't want company."

"I know you don't mean that." Morgan said as he followed her to the elevator. "Talk to me… What did my boy do to you this time?"

"Why do you assume it was something Reid did?" She asked, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

"Because I know my man… He's not that great with women. He probably said or did something that he's not even aware of. Cut him some slack."

She opened her mouth to contradict him about Reid's abilities with women, or specifically with her. Then she shut it with a snap.

_Damn it… Can't even defend the poor guy._

_Why do you want to defend him? You are supposed to be mad at him. Look at how he was talking to that… Jarrett bitch!_

"You're not convincing me Prentiss." Morgan interrupted her thoughts as they entered the cafeteria.

"May I please just eat in peace?"

He followed her as she headed to the line in front of the grill. "Okay… No more talk about wonder boy and his clumsiness with the ladies." Morgan teased with a twinkle.

_Where is my gun when I need it?_

_Right, it's on your hip! You shoot him in here with all these witnesses… _

Morgan followed her through the line for a cheeseburger and fries. He ordered the same, only double on the fries and they paid for their food. They had just sat down with Emily facing the door and Morgan with his back to the door when Reid entered with Agent Hall on his tail, talking animatedly to him.

She met Reid's eyes as he headed to the sandwich line. They pleaded with her to find a way to rescue him. Short of pulling her gun and threatening to blow Agent Samantha Hall to hell if she didn't keep at least a mile between herself and Reid…

_That would be so much fun!_

"Usually it helps to actually eat your burger if you want to enjoy it Prentiss." Morgan was saying as Emily thought longingly about beating Hall to a pulp.

The very tall agent followed Reid to the table he'd chosen as close to Emily as he could get. She talked non-stop while he nibbled at his lunch and tried to make eye contact with Emily.

Morgan finally looked around to where she stared. "Oh… Looks like Reid has himself an admirer. Hall's pretty hot. Good for him."

_If only it wasn't illegal to shoot people in public!_

"Hey Prentiss…"

Morgan snapped his fingers in front of her face. "You look like someone ran over your cat."

"I don't have a cat Morgan."

"It was a joke!"

"Not funny…" She picked up her tray. "I'm going back to work." She snapped at him.

--

Four hours later Emily placed the last of her files on the stack of her out box. For a change, JJ hadn't made a delivery of more work for her. The white-hot anger she'd been trying not to show had cooled down as the afternoon progressed.

She glanced over at Reid who was fully engrossed in his work. He hadn't looked at or spoken to her for most of the day. She wanted to reach over and touch his hand but she resisted the urge. Morgan had been watching far too closely for her to show any affection even if it hurt her heart to stay away.

Suddenly Reid looked up and caught her staring at him. He looked as miserable as she felt. She looked away quickly so Morgan wouldn't see what she felt in her gut. When she looked back, Morgan had left and Reid was once again entirely engrossed in his work.

She called up the instant messaging program on her computer and looked around. It was after five pm and some people were beginning to close up shop for the day. She clicked on Spencer's name and wrote out a short quick note.

Sorry 4 this morning.

She waited as fifteen long minutes passed. Okay… It looked like he wanted to hold a grudge. Fine, they'd just go back to being friends. Obviously, she couldn't deal with the jealousy anyway.

The messaging box popped up in front of her.

Meet me at my place six pm

She shut the box and logged off her computer. "See you later Reid." She said just like every day.

"Um… Hmm…" He said absently, but she caught him looking up from under his bangs at her.

He gave her a little wave and went back to his paperwork.

---

Emily knocked on the door to his house. It felt like she'd spent more time there than she did at home. He opened the door and drew her inside.

"I'm sorry -" She began.

He kissed her until her legs began to give way.

"Wow… Um, what was that for." She asked as he pulled her into the living room.

"I wanted to do that all day."

"I've been mad at you all day."

"I know…"

"I'm sorry!"

"I know!"

"Is that all you can say?" She wondered as he pushed her down on the couch.

"You were right about the other girls at work. They scare me." He admitted.

"Oh poor baby…"

"I'm not surprised that I get no sympathy from you."

"I was so jealous I couldn't see straight, so no, you don't get any sympathy."

He pushed her hair back from her face. "I guess I can live with that."

"I'm hungry." She said trying to push him off her.

"So am I!" His eyes burned into her.

"I mean for food."

"That too."

She pulled his face down close so that all he could see were her dark eyes. "I hate pretending that I don't have real feelings for you. Morgan was asking questions."

"Do you think he tampered with your car?"

"He made some comments that made me think he might."

"It could have been JJ or Garcia. Don't most women of the new millennium know more about cars?"

He gave her another lingering kiss that made her toes curl up inside her boots.

"I don't want to think about it now. I just want to spend time with you."

She tried to pull out of his grasp. "Spencer…" She whined. "Food!"

"Later…" His hands reached up under her blouse to caress the small of her back. "I'm busy…"

"Did you say something?"

"I said later!" He nuzzled her left earlobe.

"Right! Food's overrated anyway."

---

Reid handed her a chicken salad sandwich ordered from the shop down the street. "Thanks baby…"

"You were right," He said as he opened his food container and removed a ham and Swiss sandwich.

"Right about what?"

"You know what I mean. About those other agents. Agent Jarrett cornered me in the elevator. I didn't want to talk to her, but she just kept going on and on about the new Star Trek movie. She asked me out."

"She did?"

He looked up to see Emily sitting there with half of her sandwich in her hand staring at him.

"I didn't say yes…" He squeaked.

"But you didn't say no…"

"I didn't know what to say! She kind of scared me."

"I'm sorry… I guess I got really jealous." Emily admitted.

"You were jealous?"

She took sip of the iced tea she'd ordered. "Yes! Is that so hard to accept. You're pretty damn hot Dr. Reid."

"I don't see it." He declared, taking a bit of his sandwich.

"I know… It makes me crazy, but also it's a relief that you don't see it," She said.

"Why?"

"Because you're you! If you were a ladies man like Morgan, you'd be insufferable."

"Really?"

"Yeah… You have all that intellect and talent as a profiler. You're good looking and you're sweet and kind. That's much more desirable than you being all smart and doing magic and being a player."

"Oh…"

She reached out and touched his hand. "I like you just the way you are. Don't change a thing."

"Okay!"

"Now… Let's finish dinner because I think you owe me a backrub."

"Why?"

"Because you have the magic hands."


	2. It's Clouds Illuisions I Recall

_**Disclaimer: See my profile**_

**_A/n here's the next chapter people. Thanks for all your kind support for this little series._**

_**It's Clouds Illusions I Recall**_

Reid placed the coffee pot back on the maker and smiled fondly at his favorite beverage. Now for the sugar, he thought as he looked around for the container that had seemed to vanish.

"Looking for this," Emily said from behind him, making him jump.

"Watch it!" He said a bit irritably. "This is hot!"

She stepped up very close and said in a low voice. "So are _you_ Dr. Reid."

She held the container of sugar in one hand and a spoon in the other. She dipped it slowly into the sugar and smiled up at him from under her bangs. They made her eyes look sleepy and sexy. His cup slipped again and nearly spilt coffee over his hand.

"Watch it Reid… You don't want to get _burned_!"

"Right!" He squeaked as she dumped the sugar into his cup and began to stir it with aching slowness as her eyes drifted down from his eyes to the dark purple tie he wore with a matching dress shirt. She lifted her eyes back to his face and smirked.

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing…"

"You wouldn't be thinking naughty thoughts on the job, would you?"

"No!"

"You squeak when you lie Spencer!"

He stepped back from her and bumped into the counter top in front of the sink. The adjustment in perspective gave him the perfect opportunity to look down at her legs and imagine them under the dark, charcoal grey slacks she wore.

_He could still see the beads of water on_ _the smooth, silkiness of her skin. Only two hours ago, her long tanned legs had wrapped around him in her shower. The hot water pounding on his back had opened her pores and let him breathe in deeply her unique smell, as he had never experienced it. The vanilla scent of her body gel enhanced the spell binding effects on his brain, leaving him shaking and breathless. _

"_Spencer…" _

_He loved it when she sighed his name like that. He lost what was left of his fragile self-control at the sound of her deepening tone. _

"Hey Reid…"

He jerked, sloshing coffee all over his hands and the sleeve of his shirt. "Garcia…" He yelped, setting the cup down perilously close to the edge of the counter top.

"Sorry to scare you baby cakes. You were a million miles away."

"Yeah… I was just trying to pass him his beloved sugar." Emily shoved the container into his coffee stained hand. "All you had to do was ask Reid."

"Ok… What's going on? You two look awfully guilty. You wouldn't be planning anything."

"We're not planning anything Garcia." Reid fumbled for a paper towel. He switched on the water in the sink, glad for a reason to turn his back on the perky tech and her bright pink blouse.

"That's not what it looks like to me. I'll bet your planning world domination. If you're serious, you're going to need a really good computer geek." She smirked at Emily.

"Very funny Garcia! Why would Reid and I want to take over the world?"

"Why not? You're the looks and he's the brains and… the looks." She said with a laugh.

"That's funny… I'm too busy with work to plan world domination." Emily said, inching away from Reid who dabbed anxiously at his shirtsleeve.

"Here… Let me help you with that." Garcia said as Emily made her escape.

That had been too close for comfort. She shouldn't leave him alone with Garcia, but escaping seemed to be the only thing to do.

---

Emily stepped off the elevator on the top floor of the building and headed for the stairs. She opened the door that moved on silent hinges and walked up another flight of stairs to a door marked roof. Cold wind hit her face as she left the warmth of the building. She shivered and pulled her coat around her body. This wasn't a great idea, but they had to have a conversation.

She paced up and down the length of the roof while waiting for Reid to meet her. This was his idea and she wasn't sure if she thought it was a good one. Perhaps all this hiding out from the others was a bad idea. Was a job worth the strain on their budding relationship?

She looked up at the sky. White clouds scuttled across it and she wondered when people stopped looking for shapes in the clouds. One of her favorite pastimes as a kid was lying on the green grass of the estate and looking up at the sky with her father. He'd find the most wonderful things in the clouds. If only she had the time to do that now.

"That one looks like an eagle." Reid said.

She jumped and whipped around. "I didn't hear you come up here."

"Yeah… I got that."

They stood silently looking up at the white clouds. "There has to be a better place for us to meet than the roof."

"There are no cameras up here. I checked." Reid said with certainty.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

He took her hand and kissed it with warm soft lips that sent her heart rate skyrocketing. "Where else are we going to meet?"

"What about the apartments on the seventh floor?"

"They're supposed to be for people going into the witness protection plan. How would we get a key?"

"Good question… Maybe we could talk to one of the Marshalls."

"They'd just tell us to go to our own people."

"Right… Well, we have to think of something other than supply closets."

"I don't care." Reid said. "I just want to spend time with you away from prying eyes."

"Do you think anyone suspects us?"

"If they don't they will soon. We're all profilers Emily." He reminded her as his hair blew around in the wind.

"I know… I also know we promised not to profile each other."

"Sometimes you can't help it."

She leaned her head into his shoulder, relishing the contact and the faint smell of the aftershave he'd taken to wearing in the last week.

"You smell really good. What's the name of your aftershave? I can smell coffee, but that's probably because you drink it like it's been banned.

He began to shake with silent laughter. "It's called 'Night,' they add coffee beans into the fragrance when they make it."

"Trust you to find an after shave like that."

"It's cologne, not aftershave."

"Have you been taking lessons from Morgan?" She teased.

"No… just wanted to wear it for you."

"Go easy… We don't want them to get suspicious."

"I hate this. We should talk about telling them and taking the consequences."

She pulled her head off his shoulder. "Do you really want to do that? They'll separate us. Send us to opposite ends of the country if they find out."

"Then I'll quit." He vowed. "I love my job and I want to help people. This job brought you to me." He held onto her hand when she would have pulled away. "I'll never regret that, but I won't let it take you away."

"What are we going to do?"

"Be very careful." He advised.

"And find a different place to meet. It's cold out here." She fit herself back into his embrace.

"It'll warm up soon."

"Not soon enough for me. I have a major case of Spring fever."

"Did you know that the change in season brings about a marked change in mood of some people? Those who suffer from SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder," do much better with more sunlight and warmer temperatures. This is because the brain receives more -"

Emily stopped him with a brain-searing kiss. "I don't care about all that Dr. Reid."

"About all what?" He asked.

"Exactly!"

Later… They both sat on the roof with their heads tilted up at the clouds again. "That one over there looks like a bowl of ice cream." Emily said.

"No it doesn't," Reid argued. "It looks more like a dragon with its tail curled around its body."

"I didn't know you're so imaginative."

"I never really played this game." He admitted.

She angled her head around to see if he were serious. One could never tell for sure when it came to him. "You really never just laid out on the grass looking at the clouds in the sky."

"No… I was too busy reading with my mother, or later on with advanced calculus problems and science project for school. Later…" Something caught in his throat so she reached over to squeeze his hand. "Later, my dad left and I didn't have time between homework, extra credit projects so the teachers didn't get suspicious and taking care of my mother."

"Well… we're going to do more of this kind of stuff."

"You don't have to do that Emily."

"I want to…"

"We better get back," He said checking his watch.

"Yeah… Lunch break is over, and I'm sure JJ is probably looking for one of us to pile on more work."

He helped her stand up. She brushed off her skirt. "Do I have any dirt on my backside?" She asked turning her back on him and trying to look over her shoulder at her legs at the same time.

He looked down at her "backside," but dirt was the last thing on his mind.

"Reid!" She snapped irritably. "Stop staring and tell me if I need to brush off my butt."

He reached out and brushed off her jacket and backside. She leaped out of his reach and glared around at him. "That wasn't an invitation to cop a feel Dr. Reid."

He had the decency to go a little pink in the ears. "Sorry," He apologized, but she didn't hear the sincerity in his voice.

"Just keep your hands to yourself when we get back to the bullpen."

"If I have to!"

"You do!"

"Can I at least get a kiss before we go back?"

His eyes made it impossible forher to stay irritated. "Okay… One last kiss."

Her lips tasted better in the fresh air for some reason. She finally had to push him away with some reluctance because he had talented lips that made her forget where she was, and what she was supposed to be doing.

"We're going to be late."

"Okay… I'll follow you in a few minutes."

He watched her leave then turned his face back up to the blue sky and the white fluffy clouds over his head. A sweet wind ruffled his hair as he looked at the clouds, trying to see something different in the shapes. One of the clouds suddenly split off from another. He supposed the weather patterns were beginning to change. He pushed his sunglasses up on his nose and watched as one of the clouds took the shape of a very rough face that reminded him of Emily. He shook his head and lowered his face to the ground. He must have it bad if he could see her face in the meaningless shapes of the clouds in the sky.

He looked back up at the sky thinking about Morgan telling him the statistics and facts weren't what counted when it came to women. Garcia always told him that he thought too much and he should just let life happen instead of trying to over analyze things.

The clouds shifted again becoming elongated and wispy as it move. It reminded Reid of Emily's hair in the wind. He smiled and headed back into the building.


	3. How to eat Ice Cream

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_A/n here's the next chapter kiddies. Please enjoy..._**

**_How to eat Ice Cream_**

Reid looked up from the stack of files on the table. The suspect pool they had to work with was very large. The rapist they were looking for was clever. He didn't seem to have a type. Age, race and looks didn't seem to matter to this guy.

He jumped when Emily slapped down a file and went to the window. "Why does it have to be so hot in Phoenix this time of year?" She snapped.

He opened his mouth and then shut it with a click when she glared at him with a look that promised death if he dared speak the statistics he'd been considering.

"They could at least have a fan set up in here."

"Maybe we could ask for one." He suggested.

"Oh right… The wimpy feds ask the local LEOs for a fan in March."

He shrugged his shoulder and went back to looking over the stack of files allotted to him. He was deep into the fourth name on the list when he knocked his highlighter pen off the table. When he popped back up with the pen in hand, his chin nearly hit the ground.

Emily's fingers were working at opening the top button of her dark blue blouse. The button popped open and her fingers moved down to the next one so slowly it was as if someone had turned on a slow motion effect in the movies.

She used one of her thinner files to fan her face and visible cleavage under her open blouse. The fan wafted air around her head and fluttered her hair up and down. The strap of her matching bar peeked out as she fanned making the hair stand up on the back of his neck. She smiled at him and he had to cross his legs at the glimmer in her dark eyes.

"Emily…"

"This blouse is choking me Reid. It's _so_ hot in here." She pouted.

She dipped one finger into the revealed cleavage and slowly pulled it out again. "You're sweating Spencer… Is the _heat_ bothering you?"

He gulped and dropped his highlighter again. It fell with a clunk and rolled across the floor to the doorway. It stopped because JJ entered the room at the same time and she stepped on it.

"Watch it!" She glared at Reid. "Are you trying to trip me?"

"Sorry JJ…"

She bent down, picked up the highlighter, and tossed it at him. He caught it very awkwardly as Morgan walked back into the room allotted for them to use. "Good one Reid. My coaching is finally paying off."

"What?" He squeaked, trying not to look at Emily.

"Catching…" Morgan said as if he was half-bright. "You're finally learning how to catch stuff. We'll have you ready for the baseball team in no time this year."

Reid glanced over at Emily. Her face was half-hidden by the file folder/fan. She smiled at him as Rossi and Hotch hurried in with a new lead for them to pursue.

"Come on…" She said as they all filed back out again. "Get your game on Spencer." She whispered and slapped him on the backside with her file folder.

It was going to be a very long day!

---

"May I help you?"

Reid yanked his hand away from the rack of clothes as though they meant to burn him. The young woman standing in front of him smiled coyly. The fingers of her right hand played with the ends of her long dark brown hair as she spoke to him.

"Um… I was looking for some blue jeans."

Her dark green eyes widened. "I have just the thing for you handsome."

She took his elbow and towed him away from the slacks. He found himself standing in front of a wall holding more pairs of jeans than he'd ever seen in one place. They were stored in box-like niches in the wall and ranged in color from light grey to dark blue and black.

"What color were you looking for?"

"I don't know!" He squeaked. "I've never had a pair of blue jeans."

"You're in luck," She said, twirling the glasses she'd been wearing with one hand. "We're having a sale today. Why don't you try these?"

She reached up and pulled a pair of light blue colored jeans and one pair of black from the storage spaces. "There's a change room available in the back. Just follow me back there." She said

"How do you know the size?"

She looked back over her shoulder and winked. "It's my job honey."

He took the jeans from her and entered the changing room. This was a really bad idea. He was going to look like a total idiot. He sighed; he could put on the jeans and ask the girl outside if they were okay. She should know. He felt the blood rush to his face. She seemed overtly friendly. Were sales clerks supposed to be that friendly? It was probably her job to flirt with the customers. It probably helped her sell more clothes.

He decided to try on the light colored pair first. The size was perfect he noted. How did she do that? Was profiling a job requirement?

He peaked out the door of the changing room. If there were other guys, better looking guys out there he didn't want to be seen looking like a joke in front of them. The pants felt much tighter than his cords for some reason and he didn't want anyone to see him and think he was trying to be sexy

His face went red and he shut the door. He should just put on this cords and get the hell out of here. "Are you okay in there?" A female voice said. "Do you need another size?"

Oh… It was the sales girl. He might as well get out there and let her laugh so he could go about his business. "Um… I'll be out in a minute."

She stood there waiting for him as he sidled out of the door. "Come over to the mirror?"

He stepped aside to a mirror that included three panels so he could see from all sides. "Looking pretty hot." The girl said, as she looked him up and down appreciatively. "Can't believe this is your first pair."

"Um yeah… I never really thought about wearing them before now." He said as he craned his head around to look at his backside. The jeans made his butt look weird. He couldn't wear something that made his butt look weird.

"You look great." The sales girl enthused. "Trust me."

_She's probably saying that because she's trying to make a sale._

He didn't think so! She looked like she really admired the way he looked. Perhaps he wasn't as hideous as he thought. Emily seemed to like him just as he was so perhaps the jeans were a good idea. He decided to try on the black pair. It couldn't hurt.

---

Reid took off the towel he'd hung around his waist after his afternoon, pre-date shower and pulled on his boxers. His new jeans hung in the corner of his closet.

The sales girl had talked him into buying both pairs along with a couple of polo shirts, one in dark purple and the other in dark blue. He'd seen Morgan and Rossi wear shirts like these to work. He had a date with Emily so he thought the light blue faded pair with the purple shirt would be the best. She'd told him that she really likes purple.

He finished dressing added some "Night," cologne and went to find his shoes. If he hurried, he would make it to where they were supposed to meet.

He entered the ice cream parlor just fifteen minutes before Emily parked. The early April sun was beginning to set. So far, work hadn't interrupted his plans with a new case. Hopefully it would stay that way. He ordered the big bowl of Ice cream he wanted, nearly drooling when the waiter set it in front of him. He'd ordered the same thing for Emily. It arrived just as she entered the shop.

She stopped to stare at him as though she'd never seen him before. "Is that jeans you're wearing?" She asked in disbelief as she walked around to his side of the table.

"Yep…"

"Yep?"

"Yes… They're jeans!"

"Since when do you wear clothes like that?"

"I decided to broaden my horizons."

"You decided to broaden your horizons."

"Yeah… Do you have a problem with that?"

"No… Um, it's fine with me. What's with all the ice cream?" She asked, clumsily changing the subject.

"You like chocolate right?"

"Yeah… I love the "Death by Chocolate" you ordered." She sighed as he played with the ice cream.

"Good… I thought we could have our first ice cream break of the new spring."

He finally scooped up a spoonful, sniffed it like the cork of a wine bottle and pushed it into his mouth. He closed his eyes and smiled as the ice cream melted in his mouth.

"Should I leave you two alone?" Emily asked, very amused as she took her seat across the table from him.

"No…"

"You look like you're having way too much fun with that." She pointed at the bowl of chocolate fudge swirl ice cream with chocolate chips and chocolate sauce.

"You can't just dig in." He protested. "You have to experience it."

"Really?"

"Yeah... The first thing you have to do is swirl the spoon around the edge so that all the fudge sauce collects in the middle."

He demonstrated, moving his spoon very slowly around the edge of the round bowl in front of him. "The next thing you have to do is sort of sculpt it like this." He continued to play with it making swirls and curly cues in the chocolate goodness. "Then you take a bite and just savor the taste on your tongue." He closed his eyes and smiled.

When he opened his eyes, Emily was staring at him as if something had cut the wires between her brain and her mouth.

"I didn't realize you had such a complicated ritual for enjoying your chocolate." She finally managed to say.

"Where's the fun in just eating it?"

"Nothing I suppose."

He watched her try to eat the ice cream, but she couldn't seem to take her eyes off him. His heart started beating very fast at the hungry look in her eyes. He decided to keep enjoying his treat as if she wasn't there.

"Reid…"

"Hmm…"

"Spencer!"

"What?"

"Hurry up and finish that ice cream. "

"I told you… Don't rush perfection."

She watched him finish the large bowl of cold, creamy goodness, forgetting about her bowl. He licked the last spoonful clean and let it clatter into the empty bowl. "There… That was almost perfect."

"Almost!"

"Yeah…"

"Why? What else does it need?"

"Whipped cream!"

"Really? You should've told me. I happened to have a whole can of whipped cream at home."

"You do?"

"Yeah…"

"Why are we still sitting here?" He asked, trying not to squeak.

"Because you still haven't told me why you decided to change your fashion sense."

He finally went very pink in the cheeks. "I figured turnabout is fair play after our last case in Phoenix."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, all that stuff about it being so hot and unbuttoning your blouse."

"Oh… I have no idea what you're talking about." She scooped up her melting ice cream.

"Yes you do!"

"No… I don't remember any incident like that occurring. I wouldn't do that during working hours."

"Okay… I guess I'll just pay for my ice cream and go home. Hope you enjoy the rest of your dessert. You better hurry or it'll melt away into soup." He began to stand up.

"Alright… I'm sorry about Phoenix!" She put out a hand to stop him. "Come back to my place and I'll make it up to you with that whipped cream."

"Okay…"


	4. The Bully on the Playground

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_A/n here's the next chapter my pretties. Please enjoy! _**

**_The Bully on the Playground_**

Morgan stuck his head around the corner of the last row of lockers. "Come on man… We haven't got all day!"

"I'm coming!"

Morgan watched his young friend close his locker door with a slam. "Nice duds!" He teased looking Reid up and down in his light tan cords, white shirt and dark brown tie.

Reid ignored his partner and picked up his messenger bag and gym bag. He trailed along behind Morgan as they made their way through the men's locker room at Quantico. The room was very quiet as they moved along behind the rows of lockers.

"How's your knee?" Morgan asked his friend.

"It doesn't hurt today."

"Your physical therapist was right about weight lifting. You've starting to put on a little muscle weight too" He reached back and smacked Reid lightly on the shoulder.

"Ouch!"

"Oh stop it… I barely touched you."

They walked by the second to the last row of lockers just as a door slammed. "…get a look at that Agent Prentiss." A gravelly male voice said.

Reid stopped in his tracks. Morgan kept going until he noticed Reid wasn't behind him. "Reid what the -"

Reid put a finger to his lips. "Shut up," He hissed at his friend. "Emily…"

"… saw her on the treadmill. She's hot."

"She runs like the devil. All that energy… I bet she's a wild cat in bed."

Morgan froze, a scowl taking over his face like a child's Halloween mask. Reid's face had gone scarlet, and then blotchy white while the two agents talked on as if they were alone in the room. He recognized one of them as Agent Murphy from Organized Crime. He didn't recognize the second voice.

"… if you'd ever find out. She'd laugh in your face if you tried your signature moves on her."

"No one says no to this face. I always leave em begging for more."

"Whatever Connor, she'll never fall for your charms."

"I've never seen her with anyone at the office. You figure she's a lesbian?"

"Could be… I'd like the chance to broaden her horizons if she is," Connor laughed.

"I'd just like to plow her field if you know what I mean. She's always so serious and driven. I'll bet if you got her drunk, she'd wrap those legs around you and make you beg for mercy."

Reid took three steps forward with his hands fisted at his side when Morgan pulled him back. "I'll take care of this." His friend hissed.

"Murphy, Connor…" Morgan growled as he rounded the corner with Reid on his tail. "What the hell is the matter with you two?"

"Well, well… Here comes the famous SSA Morgan and his faithful sidekick Dr. Spencer Reid."

"Back off Murphy!"

"What's the matter? Is the good doctor your little girlfriend?" Murphy sneered.

"You want to go a round with me." Morgan cracked his knuckles. "I just finished my workout, I'm still warmed up!" He told the shorter, dark haired agent.

"You don't scare me SSA Morgan."

"Keep disrespecting Agent Prentiss and I'll -"

"Are you sweet on her?" Connor laughed, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement and irritation at the same time.

"No! I'm not sweet on her. She's a valued member of my team. Keep your filthy mouth to yourself and show some respect for a fellow agent."

"I don't recall answering to you." Murphy challenged, his dark eyes going black. "You might be the BAU's golden boy, but in here, you're just another muscle bound big shot!"

"I'd rather be a muscle bound big shot than a dick-less wonder like you."

"I'll bust your face…" Murphy raised one fist.

Reid stepped forward. "Emily doesn't like married men." He said very fast.

"What?"

"You take off your ring every day when you come into work." Reid gestured to the void in Murphy's tanning bed bronzed skin. "You think what your wife doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Shut up you little -"

"Don't say it Murphy!" Morgan hissed like an angry cat.

"It's okay Morgan." Reid said. "He can't hurt me with his little insults."

"Pretty tough when you personal body guard's around." Connor snorted. "Tell him to leave and we'll have a chat."

"I'm curious why you talk about women the way you do." Reid asked Connor and his face seemed genuinely perplexed.

"She's just a whore trying to play big time FBI agent."

Morgan stepped forward again, only to find his way blocked by Reid. "What I mean is… Why do you talk dirty about women when you're gay?"

Connor grabbed Reid by his tie. "You freaking little -"

Morgan shoved Connor so hard he fell into his locker. "I ever hear you talk about Emily Prentiss like that again -" Reid began.

"You'll what…" Murphy began, but he stayed out of Morgan's reach.

"I don't need a physical edge on you." Reid informed them as he pulled Morgan away. "I'm a genius. I'll find some way to make you wish you'd never been born and no one will ever pin it on me."

He pulled Morgan down the aisle to the door of the locker room. The older man's mouth hung open as he studied his partner. "Since when do you threaten people?"

"I didn't threaten him. I told him the truth. That's not a threat."

"You're going to quibble over semantics."

"I don't like the things they said about Emily." He said as they walked up to the elevator.

"I got that! Since when are you so protective of her?"

Reid kept his face towards the silver elevator doors as they waited for it to arrive. "I wasn't… I would react the same if it were JJ, Garcia, or any of the women in the BAU. My mother taught me to be respectful."

"You should have let me smash his face open." Morgan growled as the elevator finally found them.

"You want to explain to Hotch why Strauss has him in her office answering questions regarding an assault on a federal officer?"

Morgan pushed the button for the garage as the day had ended an hour and a half ago. "No… I don't want to end up in his office. It would've been nice though. How did you know Connor's gay?"

"Do you remember Carl Mackey?"

"Yeah… The DC cannibal from last year," Morgan replied.

"After we rescued Sarah Caster from him and closed the case, you wanted me to try that new bar in Arlington with you."

"You mean the gay bar?" Morgan said with chagrin at his mistake.

"Before you hurried me out of there, I saw Connor making out with a guy in a corner booth."

"I didn't hurry you out of there. I made a mistake. I should've checked into it."

"Hey… I don't care about walking in there by accident. I say live and let live. I looked around before we left and got an eyeful with Connor. I'm glad we made that mistake. It's nice to have something to hold over a bully's head for a change."

Morgan laughed, "Yeah… It is a good thing to have."

They got off the elevator. "So Connor's just playing along with another alpha male because he's afraid his orientation will get out."

"I guess so."

Reid left Morgan for his car. He drove home, not really paying attention, just letting the car go almost on its own. Luckily, he didn't get into an accident. He parked, went into his house and dropped off his bags. He sat down on his couch and stared at the bookcase. He should buy a television and a DVD or Blue Ray Player for distraction.

His hands kept forming into fists. He should've stood up for Emily instead of just baiting those two_. What would she say if she knew? No! He'd never tell her. She'd be very hurt. He wouldn't hurt her like that. _

He went into his kitchen and decided to try his hand at actually cooking for a change. If he heated up some soup, that should be okay. It would get his mind off those men and their comments.

---

Emily parked behind Reid's ancient Volvo. He'd left the gym with Morgan before she'd finished her workout. She'd been on her way home, but something made her turn her car around and drive to his house. She grabbed her bag and purse, fishing out the key he'd given her.

She slipped inside the front door as quietly as she could. She keyed the code into the alarm and left her bag and purse next to the entryway table she'd given him as a housewarming present just a week ago. She stopped in her tracks at the sound coming from the kitchen.

Something smelt burnt in that room. She grinned at the cursing coming from the room. "I didn't think I'd ever hear that kind of language from your sweet mouth." She said to his back as she entered the kitchen.

He whirled around with a cloth in his hand. Something red dripped from his hair and all over his shirt. "Jesus Reid... Are you okay?" She hurried over to inspect the damage.

"I'm fine, but you scared me. I was trying to heat up a bowl of tomato soup. It exploded all over me and the kitchen."

His dark eyes were furious as he took in her sudden appearance in the kitchen. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I can see that… Since when do you try to cook?"

"I just wanted a can of soup. What are you doing here?" He snapped.

"I came by to see if you wanted to order in and watch a movie. We haven't had a lot of time together in the last couple of weeks. I've missed you."

She watched him put down the towel he'd been trying to use to clean his face and hair. "I'm sorry… I just…"

He concentrated on trying to find another rag to finish cleaning and stove and the counter tops_. He should have put the soup in the microwave. _At least he wasn't nursing burns from the hot soup.

"Spencer… What's wrong?"

"You know Morgan and I went down to the gym, right?"

"I was there remember?"

"Yeah… Um, so we overheard Agents Murphy and Connor talking about you." His face went redder than the soup staining the front of his white dress shirt.

"What did they say?" She pulled a couple of paper towels off the roll. If she cleaned, then maybe the story she sensed coming, might not upset her.

"They were saying stuff I'm not going to repeat. Morgan got really mad at them."

"Really…" Her heart rate went up a little as he nodded. His lovely eyes fixed on some spot over her shoulder as he spoke.

"I wanted to help Morgan beat both of them to a bloody pulp."

"But you didn't," She guessed.

"No… I said some stuff and Morgan shoved Agent Connor into one of the lockers."

She tossed the used towel into the garbage. "Well, I don't see any blood on you, so that's good." She said as lightly as she could because his eyes had gone hard and dark again.

"I wanted to kill both of them. I should have defended you instead of just insulting them."

"I don't expect you to beat up the bully in the playground for me."

"I wanted to. They were saying despicable things about you!"

"They're not the first that have made comments and accusations Spencer. Come sit down for a minute and we'll talk."

"I don't want to talk. I'm a mess anyway." He threw down his towel and stalked off in the direction of his bathroom. "I'm going to take another shower!"

---

He came back out into the kitchen dressed in an old pair of dark blue sweats and a light grey FBI tee shirt. The smell of garlic and sizzling vegetables assaulted his nose as Emily removed containers from a plastic bag on the container. He stood watching her for a long time before she noticed he'd come into the room.

"Hey!" She said softly.

"Hi."

"Do you feel better?"

"I guess."

She began piling chicken lo mien and ham fried rice onto a plate for him. "Spencer… When I first joined the bureau, I got all kinds of comments from the male agents. They didn't like that I was taking jobs they thought were meant for other men. They called me everything from whore and slut to lesbian token bitch. It hurt... In fact, it still stings when I think about it, which isn't often. The fact is that I've proven myself to the bureau, to Hotch and to all of the team. I don't need any more than that."

She brought two dark red ceramic plates to the table she'd set. She made another trip back to the kitchen for the container of braised ribs, a container of pot stickers and the mu shu pork. "Sit down and have something to eat Spencer. I put a fork next to your plate." She grinned.

"Thanks…"

They sat down. "All I'm trying to say is that I'm used to the talk. It's not going to change just because you and Morgan threaten a couple of jerks."

"I just want to protect you!"

She swallowed a mouth full of ham-fried rice. "I'm with you because you're a sweet and kind man. If I wanted macho bruiser for a boyfriend, I'd chase after Morgan."

"But I -"

"Spencer… I really don't care what those guys said. It's never going to change, so why worry about it?"

"It's the twenty-first century." Reid pointed out as he speared a chunk of chicken in his lo mien. "We should've evolved past all that by now."

Emily chocked on a pot sticker. "I'd love to think so, but sadly not. Now stop talking about them and tell me about your workout. How's your knee."

He finally gave her a genuine smile. "It feels really good. Morgan's been helping me with exercises the PT gave me and incorporating weights. He says I'm getting stronger."

"You look pretty good from over there. Whatever he's doing, I heartily approve." Emily said as she poured more water into her glass.

Spencer's cheeks went adorably pink. "You really do."

"Yeah… How about we skip the movie after dinner and I jump your bones."

"Best thing I've heard all day!"


	5. A Common Household Accident

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_A/n many thanks to my wonderful beta, who gave me the idea for this chapter. Enjoy! _**

**_A Common Household Accident_**

_Pain exploded along her ribs as iron hard fists pummeled her. She tried to breathe, but every inhalation stabs into her lungs like a steel knife. Someone pulled her up by her hair and threw her into the wall. _

"_I can take it!" She whispered. _

"_FBI bitch, I'll show you true pain." _

_Someone kicked the meaty part of her left thigh… She bit back a scream. "I can take it." She tried to shout. The team couldn't kick in the doors for her. Too many people would die. _

"_Teach you to respect men, you whore." A fist connected with her face and split her lip. _

"_I can take it!" The words were her mantra so she didn't scream. _

_Hands shoved her to her knees, which sang out with stinging pain as they hit the concrete floor. A foot connected with her back and something cracked. She screamed as blackness closed over her eyes. _

Her eyes popped open to darkness with a tiny bit of yellow light seeping into the room from her right. She sat straight up, breathing hard. Her heart pounded so hard, her head swam with dizziness. She tried to slow her galloping heart by taking a few deep breaths. The dream hadn't come with such force for a long time. Her hands shook as she looked around trying to remember where she was. Red numbers caught her eye and she smiled, while wanting to sigh in frustration at the same time. The numbers meant that she was at Reid's house, which was a good thing. The frustration was that the clock read only twelve minutes after midnight in the evening. Only an hour and a half had passed since she'd fallen asleep after an hour enjoying her sweet man's embrace.

She lay down, turning over to snuggle back into his chest. Her heartbeat had slowed a bit, but the phantom pain in her face and the cold in her body made her shiver. Spencer's warm body calmed her spirit. She put her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. The steady rhythm lulled her heart back to normal. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but another need pushed its way into her brain.

Her bladder had started throbbing painfully so she reluctantly left warmth and security of Spencer's bed for the cool air in the bedroom. She followed the gold light seeping in under the door of his room. The house was very quiet, but the sight confronting her eyes as she opened the door made her smile. Plugged into the wall halfway down the hall was a Starship Enterprise night light. She didn't know where he'd gotten it, but it was just so him that she had to giggle. He'd gone pink in the cheeks the first time she'd seen in plugged in. He said the darkness in his house didn't bother him, but he needed a little light from the hallway. She secretly loved it because she didn't have to turn on a light for late night trips to the bathroom.

She went to the bathroom, washed her hands and decided to go to the kitchen for a drink of water. Her stomach grumbled a little, but she determined not to raid the fridge. There was no sense in ruining her diet just because she'd had to get up and empty her bladder.

She rounded the corner to the kitchen thinking about ice cream and whipped cream despite her pledge not to eat. Lovely memories of whipped cream and Spencer flitted in her head. She'd found, thanks to the whipped cream that her sexy man had a spot in his right inner thigh that could turn him to putty with a little licking.

She smiled and stepped into almost complete darkness of the kitchen. Another step and she'd find the light switch- her foot came down on something slippery and soft. She slid, and fell onto her bare knees. "Ouch!" She yelled. "What the hell?"

She tried to stand up, but pain shot through her left ankle and she almost fell again. "Damn it…" Had she broken her foot? She tried to get up again by hanging onto the wall, but her foot hurt so much she couldn't make it take the shift in weight to go from her knees to her feet.

"Spencer…" She said through gritted teeth. He didn't answer.

He could sleep through a war when he wasn't having nightmares. "Spencer…" She shouted as loud as she could. "I need help!"

The door to his room finally opened after she yelled twice more at him. "Emily what the -" He stumbled out, wearing only a pair of white cotton boxers. His hair stuck up in every direction and he rubbed at his eyes.

"I fell…" She said angrily. "I can't stand up without help.

"Oh… Emily!" He hurried to her side and flicked on the light. They both flinched at the bright light. He helped her stand. She held on to him and held up her foot like a dog with a sticker in his paw.

"Why do you have to leave your messenger bag lying around?" She screeched at him. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"I'm sorry…" He said trying to steer her back to their room.

"Sorry doesn't help me now, does it?" She snapped, as tears collected in her eyes.

"I'm really sorry Emily."

He helped her sit on the bed and began collecting the clothes she'd shed in the heat of passion just hours ago. "I'm sorry I yelled." She sniffed.

"I'm not used to having someone else around. I never think about where I leave my bag when I get home. I promise I'll be more careful."

He helped her finish dressing and then he grabbed his pants and the white dress shirt he'd been wearing. "I'm going to take you to the ER."

"I've been hurt worse than this." She reminded him. "If I just put some ice on it," she indicated the ankle that had begun to swell.

"No!" He helped her to her feet again. "We're going to the doctor.

----

The ride to the closest hospital, St Mary's, was quiet as Spencer refused to talk to her while he drove his ancient Volvo. Guilt burned in his eyes every time he looked at her. She couldn't say anything to try to make things better though because her ankle hurt so badly she couldn't concentrate on anything else but hoping the trip would end very soon.

Finally, they pulled into the emergency entrance. Reid left her in car as he headed inside and back again with a wheelchair. He helped her into the wheelchair wincing as she groaned in pain. "I'm sorry…" He finally said as he pushed her inside.

A very small nurse met them at the admitting desk. Her coal black hair fell in beaded cornrows as she leaned down over Emily's foot. Reid went back out to park the car as "Shelby," the nurse asked Emily a few questions and took her vital signs.

"We'll get her back into an exam room right away." She said to Reid when he came back into the waiting area. "I'll be back out in a few minutes.

He took a seat in the empty waiting room. He suddenly wanted a very crowded and noisy room to take his mind off Emily as he finished the necessary paperwork for the receptionist at the desk. "Here you go," He muttered missing the very interested look from the blond haired, blue-eyed nurse's aide.

He picked up a magazine but he found he couldn't read. It was all his fault. He'd been stupid enough just to drop his bag on the floor and leave it there in the middle of the floor. His house wasn't just his place anymore. He had to remember that because he wanted her to stay in his life. If she thought he couldn't put his bag out of the way of tripping her up, she might not come back to his place again.

He shoved a hand through his hair and got up to pace until Emily came back out in another wheelchair with a bandaged leg and a pair of crutches across her lap.

"Oh my God… I'm so sorry Emily." He hurried up to her.

"It was an accident. I have some strained ligaments, but it will be better in a few days. I have to use crutches but I'll be okay."

"I'm going to take you home." He took over driving the wheel chair from another nurse that looked at him as if he was a late night snack.

He helped her back into his car after pulling it back up to the front of the ER. "Thanks Spencer…"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine… I'm just tired. They gave me painkillers so I'm feeling better. I just want to get home to my own bed."

"I thought you were staying with me."

"I need to repack my go bag. We came straight from our last case to your place, remember? I hadn't intended to stay, but things just go out of hand as they often do with you." She smiled. "I would've had to get up early and go home first anyway."

"We can wash your clothes at my place." He argued as they left the parking lot at the hospital and headed back down the road.

"JJ and or Garcia will be sure to notice if I'm wearing the same clothes twice."

"Alright… I'll take you home, grab your bag and take you back to your brownstone."

"Spencer…"

He refused to look at her.

"I'm not angry at you anymore. I really just need a few hours in my bed."

"You should stay home tomorrow." He told her. "You can call in sick."

"I'm not calling in sick Spencer. I have a stack of files on my desk that need my attention. I'll promise Hotch to stay out of the field. I have to work."

He glanced over at her in the darkness of the car. He could just make out the outline of her face as the light from the street rushed by the car. "Alright… What are you going to tell the others about your foot?"

"Don't worry… I'll think of something." The eagerness of the challenge colored her voice and made him smile.

"Let's get you home then."

---

"So what happened to you?" JJ said as Emily propped her foot up on another office chair Garcia had scrounged from somewhere.

"I fell getting out of the shower yesterday." Emily said. "We got home so late. I decided to have a shower before going to bed. I stepped out and for some reason the rug in front of my shower slid and down I went. I have a nice bruise on the same knee, but that'll be okay sooner than the strained ligaments."

"Poor baby…" Garcia said. "Why did you even come in? Hotch won't be happy that you didn't call in." She scolded.

"I'll tell him when he comes in. Really… the Tylenol I took is working well. I've got it elevated and I have plenty to do here at my desk."

"Hey Prentiss…" Morgan called as he came into the bullpen with a steaming cup of coffee. "What did you do to yourself?"

Emily was in the middle of explaining her 'accident' again when Reid got off the elevator and hurried into the bullpen. He carried a cup of coffee and a bag from Starbucks. "Hi Emily… How's your ankle?"

Emily gave him a look that would've turned a lesser man to stone. JJ and Garcia looked at each other and Morgan grinned widely at his hapless young friend. "How did you about know her ankle? You haven't even seen her yet." Garcia asked.

"Um… well I got here the same time as she did. I saw that she had crutches so I deduced that she must have had some kind of household accident."

"How did you know that?" Morgan asked suspiciously.

"Well… The incidents of household accidents increase late at night. Your blood sugar tends to be lower after a stressful day and you're tired so your concentration and coordination are all over the place. The likelihood of tripping and falling for instance is greater than during the rest of the day. Since Emily and the rest of us said we were going straight home after that case I assumed that she had an accident at home." He finished with a squeak.

"Um hm…" JJ said. "How come you didn't get off the elevator with her if you're so smart?"

The others nodded. "He got cornered by Agent Jarrett again. She's been following him all over. Did you finally tell her you aren't interested?" Emily asked sweetly.

Reid hoped they couldn't see him sweating under his sweater vest and white dress shirt. "Yeah… I told her."

"Why?" Morgan asked. "She's a beautiful woman."

"I think there's more to a relationship than looks… I want someone I have stuff in common with like reading books, or playing chess. I want someone that understands what it's like to do this job for a living."

He noticed that all of them were staring at him. "I didn't say you had to marry the woman." Morgan said. "I just want you to get some lovin!'

"Morgan!" Garcia said. "Leave him alone. He'll find the right one someday."

"Yeah… Get off his back for once!" JJ added.

She and Garcia left the bullpen together as Morgan shrugged his shoulders and went to his desk. Reid sat down, trembling all the way to his toes. He risked a glance at Emily who smirked at him. "Thanks!" She mouthed.

He smiled and pushed the bag he'd been carrying over to her. She opened it to find a chocolate chip muffin, still warm from the oven. She smiled, glanced over at Morgan who'd got on the phone and seemed to not know they were in the same room together. She took a large bite and grinned at Spencer.

"Emily…" Hotch called from the walkway above the bullpen.

"Yes sir!" She sat up straight and tried to turn around without hurting her ankle at the same time.

"What happened to you?"

She scooted around and told him the same story she'd told the others. "What are you doing here? Go home and don't come back till your doctor Okays you to work."

"He said it -"

Hotch glared down at her. "Go home Prentiss…"

"Yes sir."

She reached for her bag and coat.

"Reid, help her down to her car and make sure she goes home." Hotch ordered.

Morgan smirked at both of them. "Pretty boring accident Prentiss… At least when Gideon came in on crutches it was exciting."

"What happened to him?" Emily asked Reid as he carried her go bag to the elevator.

"I'll tell you on the way down to the garage."


	6. Dancing Around the Truth

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_A/n thank you for your patience in waiting for this update. And, thanks to my mighty beta for all her help despite the intrusion of RL. You rock!_**

**_Dancing Around the Truth_**

Emily hurried into the conference room with two cups of coffee in her hands. She placed one next to Reid and sat down.

"Where's my coffee?" Morgan demanded of Emily.

"Your hands aren't broken." She shot back.

"You'll bring the kid coffee, but you won't bring me any."

"No… Get it yourself!" She snapped, sticking her face in the file.

"I'm hurt Prentiss… You don't bring me flowers anymore." He sang at her.

"That's funny Morgan. We have a pesky serial rapist right here in DC. Why don't you concentrate on that instead of bothering me?"

"I'm just teasing!"

She ignored him and managed not to look over at Reid who studied his file. Keeping her eyes and hands off him, especially that morning was proving to be quite the task. He just had to wear a dark violet dress shirt with matching slacks, and a fitted purple, wool vest with threads of gold and green running through it. He'd combed his hair back off his face except for one wavy lock that fell over his left eye.

_Did he do it on purpose? Was he trying to test her willpower? Didn't he get his appeal?_

She shook her head like a dog shaking off excess water… She had to get her mind back on the case and off the fact that several female agents had been staring at him in the bullpen that morning. She wanted desperately to take out her gun and…

"Prentiss!" Morgan said loudly, pulling her back to the present and his amused expression. "What?"

"I asked you twice if you have the witness report for the last victim."

"Oh right! Here you go!"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!"

"Heads up everyone," JJ said as she breezed into the room. "We have another victim, Chloe Wilson… She's at Georgetown University hospital."

"JJ… I'd like you to come with me to talk to her." Hotch asked. "I think she might feel better with a woman there."

"I'm going to start a geographic profile." Reid jumped out of his seat.

"Rossi, you and Emily -"

"I'm going to stay here and help Reid with the geographic profile." Emily said, "If you don't mind Hotch."

"I don't mind if it's okay with Reid."

"Why wouldn't it be okay with me?" Reid asked keeping his face to the whiteboard.

"Because you freaked out in Houston when Emily offered to help you," Morgan reminded him helpfully.

"That was then!" Reid snapped. "Do you have to keep bringing it up all the time?"

"Enough…" Hotch said. "Get going Morgan."

Morgan left the conference room with a smirking Rossi in tow. JJ and Hotch left together. Garcia was in her office trying to tease out a connection to the victims, so Emily wrapped an arm around Reid's waist. He tensed up and then relaxed as she kissed his cheek.

"Emily!"

"What?"

"We're in the conference room!"

"So what?"

"Um… Someone could come in." He resisted the urge to purr like a kitten under the feel of her fingers in his hair.

"No one's going to come in here for a while."

"Morgan's getting suspicious of us." He said, trying to concentrate on his profile instead of her breath on his cheek.

"He's just teasing us like always."

"I hope so. It's just getting to me today."

"I'm sorry Spencer." She pulled back from him, successfully resisting the pull of his warmth. "It's been one of those days. We've been working nonstop on this for two days. I didn't sleep very well without you last night." She held up a hand when he tried to speak. "You were right about going home to separate beds last night. We've been together at your place or mine nearly every night since my ankle got well. You almost answered my phone by mistake when JJ called night before last. I know it wasn't your fault, but we have to be careful."

She went back to him and put her arms around his neck. "I love sleeping in the same bed with you, even if it's just for sleeping." She winked at him and he blushed.

She back away again… "I promise to be good today." She crossed her heart like they were in high school again. "I just wish you hadn't worn that outfit and your hair that way. It's my favorite. You look good enough to eat."

"Emily…" He squeaked.

"Sorry… Okay, let's get back to work."

----

Reid opened the lock to Emily's apartment with the key she'd given him after she'd twisted her ankle. He stepped in as quietly as he could and shut the door carefully behind him. He left his bags on the entryway table. He stood still for a minute staring at the bags sitting side by side. They looked right to him sitting there as though they were meant to be together, like he and Emily.

He smiled for the first time since they'd caught their rapist. Another girl was safe and another monster was behind bars where he couldn't hurt anyone else.

Music pushed into his memories of that afternoon. Emily was humming along with a song he recognized, but didn't know the name to. In fact, the band sounded like it was singing in Portuguese. He walked into the living room and tried not to laugh with joy as Emily moved around the room dancing and humming while she straightened up the living area.

She turned around from dusting the coffee table and jumped in shock at the sight of him standing there watching her. "What are you doing?"

"I missed you!" He said over the music.

He feet wanted to tap along with the music, but dancing was something he couldn't do without hurting his partner. It wasn't like he hadn't tried at all.

She went to the I pod dock and turned down the music just a bit. "I thought you still had paperwork to do?"

"I decided that it could wait until tomorrow."

She dropped the dust cloth on the coffee table. "I'm glad."

She danced over to his side and grabbed him around the elbows. "Come dance with me Spencer."

"You're in a good mood." He pulled back gently, trying to extricate himself from her grasp.

"And… You're trying to distract me."

She swayed her hips in a very slow figure eight as her hips just touched his. Little shivers collected in his stomach as he watched her move.

"I can't dance Emily, but… I'll watch you. You're doing just fine." He said, his voice climbing to a squeak.

"Everyone can dance Spencer. It's just a matter of desire, not talent." She breathed lifting her hands over her head swaying in time with the music. She draped her arms around his neck. "Why don't we start with something slow?"

The music reminded him of something he'd see on television. The voice that sang had the same low breathless quality of a blues tune in the sixties.

"All you have to do is just move to the music." She swayed in his arms like he'd seen people do on television.

He tried to copy her and ended up stepping on her foot as the singer sang of crying alone because his baby had left him.

"I'm sorry Emily…" His face got hot as he tried to pull away from her.

"Don't try to move your feet just stand there and sway back and forth."

He tried it feeling like a fool as the music changed again. He'd seen people dance on shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and those ball room dancing competitions on public television. He stepped wrong again. "I'm sorry…" He whispered.

"Stop thinking so much and comparing you to people that have been dancing for years."

He looked down in shock at her, but then she always knew what he was thinking. "I love you." He said faintly and suddenly as their bodies swayed together next to the sofa and coffee table.

"What did you say?" Emily stopped with the music.

"I said I love you. I've loved you since Colorado, but I couldn't say it until now. In fact I don't know why I'm saying now." He babbled as she stared at him.

She tugged him over to the couch as another song started to play. She sat, pulling him down with her. She held his hand so tight he tried to pull away because it felt like someone had clamped it in a vice. She didn't talk for so long his face began burning again. "I… Um, I shouldn't have said anything. I'll just go now."

He yanked his hand from her grasp and tried to stand up. She pushed him back on the cushions of the couch with surprising strength. Her face, inches from his wasn't playful or excited from the last of the adrenaline high they'd been running on for the last few hours. Instead, she reminded him very much of a hawk in a nature special he seen. The hawk could spot a field mouse from hundreds of feet in the air and dive with precision and astonishing speed. It's prey would be snatched up and eaten before it knew what hit it.

"Emily?" He cursed himself for squeaking like said mice at the mercy of the hunter.

"Don't even think about running away Spencer!" She punctuated every word with a finger to his chest.

"I can't with you lying on top of me like this." He pointed out the obvious and Emily laughed.

"True… I decided I wanted to be on top for a change. You got a problem with that?"

Her lips, just inches from his face, descended and claimed his, cutting off what he wanted to say. His body responded quickly to the softness and warmth of her mouth and the wetness of her tongue. Shivers racked his body as her hands slid over his torso. His head emptied to everything but touch and shiver, and feeling and love. He let his head fall back as her mouth sucked and licked his Adam's apple.

The hawk devoured the mouse but the mouse did not care.

----

"Are you okay?" Emily asked him sometime later.

"I'm trying to remember how to breathe."

Emily laughed and slapped him on his bare backside. "That was one for the record books I'd say."

"Yeah…" He rolled away from her, grabbed his clothes and began dressing.

"Spencer!"

"I need to get home. I'm tired and hungry. If I stay here…"

She sprang up with considerably more energy than he felt she should have and grabbed his arm. "What's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong Emily! I need to go home and get some sleep."

"I do love you, you know." Emily said.

He hung his head. "I know you do Emily. You don't have to say it like I just blurted it out to you. I just wanted to say it because I -"

She put a hand over his mouth. "I know why you had to say it Spencer. I'm sorry I've been off the last couple of days and I'm sorry for today in the conference room. I'm tired of hiding. I want to scream from the rooftops that I love Spencer Reid. I don't want to worry that every time we're together the wrong people might see us."

"What are we going to do?" He asked her.

"I don't know… Maybe if we talk to Hotch he can do something. I don't like sneaking around Spencer."

"I don't like it either. Let's just think about it. I'm going to talk to the bureau's Ombudsperson and see if we can fight it if they try and separate us."

"Okay… We'll keep it to ourselves for now."

He finished dressing. Emily picked up her clothes. "I'm going to take a shower. Why don't you order some food from that Italian food place down the street? They have a fabulous Tiramisu."

"I've eaten better with you than I have in my entire life."

"You better not get fat…" She kidded as she sashayed naked from the room. "I like 'em long and lean."

He went to his bag for his phone. Despite their banter, they still had a problem. The trouble was that he just couldn't make himself take it seriously.

"It can wait until tomorrow." He said to himself, hoping it wasn't all about to blow in their faces.


	7. Stress Relief

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_Stress Relief_**

The clock read 4:17 when Emily stuttered awake with a scream on her lips. Her mouth had opened its widest trying to give voice to the scream echoing in her head. Instead, it came out as though she had been afflicted with laryngitis and could only wheeze like an old, broken bellows.

She turned over on her back, grateful for the familiar dimensions of her own bedroom instead of an anonymous hotel room in some other city or small town. The darkness pressed down, relived only by a bit of orange light seeping in around the blinds at her window.

Her breathing began to slow. She turned over to her left side and reached out for the comforting warmth of Spencer. He slept peacefully, untroubled by the nightmares that plagued her more and more often as their bond deepened.

Tears stung in her eyes, but she held them at bay through long years of practice. Everything seemed to be spiraling out of control. She snuggled into his chest hugging him as close as she could to infuse his warmth into her chilled soul. He sighed in his sleep and turned to her throwing his arms around her as though he knew she needed him there with her. She closed her eyes and tried to force sleep to come back without the accompanying specter of nightmares.

Emily gave up after about twenty minutes. Sleep wouldn't come again. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Spencer taking a beating in her place. The screams weren't for her pain, but for his and the quiet resignation in his face.

She pulled out of his arms as slowly as she could so she didn't wake him. He sighed again and turned onto his back. He murmured her name softly in his sleep and she froze, wondering if she'd woken him. He didn't speak again and after a few minutes, she got out of bed and found her robe thrown over the chair next to her night table.

The lights of the bathroom blinded her as she stood swaying and blinking for long moments until her eyes adjusted again. She relieved the pressure on her bladder and looked longingly at the Jacuzzi tub she'd added when she'd remodeled the brownstone after buying it. A nice long soak would be just the thing since there was no way she was going back to sleep now.

Minutes later, the water pulsed and bubble bath covered her up to her chin. The hot water soothed the tightness in her back and neck muscles. She closed her eyes and tried to think about something other than horrible crime scene photos and fists connecting with flesh. She breathed in the perfume of the rose scented bubble bath and sighed contentedly. The headache that had begun to pound behind her eyes disappeared with the phantom pain in her ribs. She breathed in and out, trying to put all her concentration into the act of breathing instead of thinking so much.

Someone tapped on her door, making her jump and the water splash the back of her hair and her eyes. Her heart began to race until she realized that she must have awakened Spencer.

"Emily?"

"Come in Spencer…"

He sidled into the bathroom with his hair sticking out in all directions. His blue, green and white checked sleep pants were adorably wrinkled and baggy. He didn't have a shirt on so she got a wonderful view of his thin, but appealing chest and abs.

"Hey!" She said, glad that he was there to distract her from her troubles.

"Hey!" He rubbed at his eyes and came to sit on the edge of the oval shaped bathtub. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

He crossed his arms over his chest and waited. "Alright… I had the nightmare again. I couldn't go back to sleep and I didn't want to disturb you with my tossing and turning."

"I wish I could make them go away."

She smiled at the yawn accompanying his wish. "Why don't you go back to sleep baby? It's Sunday morning and we don't have to go to work. You can sleep as long as you want."

"I don't want to go back to bed without you there."

He reached over and pulled a dry washcloth from the towel rack. He dropped it into the warm water and swished it around.

"What are you doing Dr. Reid?"

He'd began to push and washcloth over one of her knees sticking up out of the water. "I'm just helping out." He said innocently."

"Sure you are… Why don't you take off those pajamas and join me? There's plenty of room."

"Actually," he said as he stopped washing her leg. "I have a better idea." He dropped the washcloth and stood up."

"Hey!"

"I'm going to make you a surprise." His eyes lit up with mischief.

"What if I want you in here with me?"

"You don't always get what you want." He said seriously, dodging out of her way as she attempted to splash him. "You don't want a mess to clean up." He lectured.

She splashed at him again and he left the room at a near run. "I'll get you Spencer Reid!"

---

When she came down the stairs thirty minutes later, there was a spring in her step due to the effects of the warm water and seeing her beautiful man early in the morning. She'd even forgiven him for his teasing in the bath. The smell of fresh coffee and other food surprised her and seduced her down from the room. She found her sweet man in the kitchen removing waffles from her iron. The perfect, golden brown breakfast food - made her mouth water - as did her guy standing there in bare feet, a pair of light brown slacks, and a white dress shirt un-tucked from his pants.

"Since when do you cook?" She said, making him jump a little.

"I've been practicing." He said proudly.

"You have…" She sat down to orange juice, bacon and actual strawberries. "When?"

"Every morning we're home that we don't stay together. I wanted to surprise you at the right time."

"You certainly did!"

He brought the waffles to the table and sat down. "Orange juice my lady?" He asked.

"Yes sir!"

He poured out for both of them. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"It was the same thing except that this time they were beating you and making me watch."

He put down his fork with a piece of waffle speared on it and reached out for her hand. "I'm sorry."

"I told you then, and I'll say it now, it's not your fault. It's just a result of stress. I know they'll go away when things calm down."

"I know a great way to relive stress."

She choked on the strawberry she'd bit into. "Dr. Reid!"

"Not that, although that's pretty good for starters." He waggled his eyebrows. "What I meant was a real date!"

"Where can we go where we can be sure no one will see us?" She said after taking a thoughtful sip of her hot coffee."

"Just leave that to me."

----

"I can't believe you found a parking space in DC this time on a Sunday night." Emily said impressed.

"I'm just lucky!" He quipped.

"Oh stop!" She lightly punched him on the arm.

"You better stop or I'll have to turn you in for abuse." He smiled down at her in the light of the low hanging sun.

"You don't know how good you have it!" She retorted relishing the perfume of all the cherry blossoms around them.

He wrapped an arm around her as they walked to the door of the small restaurant called "Omega." "I know exactly how good I have it." He said as he pushed open the door.

"Hello Dr. Reid." A voice said to their right as they entered the room light with low lights from old-fashioned sconces on the wall.

"Hello Miguel…" Reid greeted the tall, thin man dressed in a black tuxedo. His hair was nearly white, but he had the look of youth around him that was evident in his voice.

"I have your table ready out on the porch. It's a lovely night."

"Thank you."

They followed him through round tables and booths about halfway full of people eating by candlelight. Emily looked everywhere at once, trying to identify the smells coming from the kitchen, which were delicious.

Miguel led them to a table in the corner of the porch hooked onto the side of the building that gave them a view of the Potomac as the sun began to set. They joined a few other couples talking, eating and laughing.

Miguel left them to their menus and the view as they looked at the pink and purple of the sky. Emily tore her eyes away to Reid who sat back in his chair looking at her. He'd put on a pair of dark blue slacks with a matching suit jacket and a white shirt. His tie matched the suit but for a little red and purple diamonds at the knot.

"You look great." She said squeezing his hand.

"So do you!" He stuttered a little stunned at the dark red halter dress she wore that dipped down to show a bit of cleavage. The scarlet wrap around her shoulders and matching shoes completed the look.

"Thanks… What are we having?"

"It's French food with a Mediterranean influence."

"How do you know Miguel?"

"Would you believe that we met in the hospital when I got shot?"

She looked up from her menu to see if he were serious. "You did?"

"Yeah… He's an epileptic. He had a reaction to his medicine and ended up there for a couple of days. We met in the solarium. I was feeling bad about myself because it seems like I never stop having accidents and getting into trouble. We started talking and I realized that at least I didn't have to worry about dropping from a seizure at work or at the bus station. Someone always has more problems than you do." He said as their server approached.

They ordered and Emily said. "You're right of course. If you get to know someone, they have their own stories. Thanks for reminding me of that."

"I'm not trying to say that our problems and stresses aren't important." Reid pointed out as the young male server poured out some red wine for them.

"I know…" She reached over for his hand. "I heard what you ordered. Are you sure you want seafood?"

"I used to like mussels before Tobias Henkel. I want to try them again. I think that as long as it doesn't smell too much like burning fish hearts, I'll be okay."

"Alright, but if you can't eat it you can have some of my stuffed Marsala chicken and rice."

"I'm not going to starve." He rolled his eyes. "We have Greek salads coming up." He reminded her.

They sat talking about everything that didn't have to do with their jobs as they ate their salads. "This is great so far." Emily said as the sun finally fell beneath the horizon.

The server came back and lit the candles on their tables, as the sky went dark blue. He left again as though he disappeared into the air. He returned later with their entrees. Reid looked down at his mussels in a white whine and butter sauce. He inhaled as Emily watched her hands white at the knuckles from clutching at the sides of the table.

"The garlic smells good." He said, opening his eyes.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah…" He picked up his fork, dug out the meat of the mussel, and put it in his mouth. "Hmm… Miguel was right when he recommended this in the hospital. It's very good."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," His face lit up like a kid on Christmas. "I've wanted to do this forever and didn't have the courage without you. Thank you so much." He grabbed her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist."

"You're welcome but I didn't do anything." She said rather breathlessly.

"Yes you did! You give me hope. I just can't imagine life without you."

"I'm glad because you ain't getting rid of me."

"Eat your chicken!" He ordered her.

The sky was black overhead as they finished their meal. "Thank you," Emily said as Reid gave his credit card and the ticket back to the server.

"You're welcome! How do you feel?"

"I should be asking you."

"I'm fine, no nausea, light headedness or wanting to run away. I'm fine." He assured her.

"Okay. Now why don't we go back to my place and work off some of that energy."

"I think that's an excellent idea. I've got a pint of chocolate ice cream we can share for dessert."

"You read my mind."

----

As the couple left the restaurant hand in hand they passed by a table with another couple sitting near the door between the porch and the restaurant. They laughed as they passed and Emily squealed. "Dr. Reid watch your hands. Just because it's pretty dark out here."

Penelope Garcia's head came up and around at the name just in time to see Emily with her arm around Reid and they were laughing like crazy.

"Wasn't that -?"

"Yeah…"

"Wow, good for Agent Reid." Kevin said.

Garcia smacked Kevin's hand. "Ouch!"

"Sorry baby… I'm just wondering how long that's been going on."

"They look pretty friendly!"

"Yeah… I'm going to find out just what's going on and how long it's been going on." Garcia promised her man.


	8. Another Fine Mess

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_a/n here's the next chapter all. Thank you all for your wonderful comments. Please enjoy!_**

**_Another Fine Mess _**

Garcia placed a tea bag into her bright, lemon yellow mug she'd filled with hot water. She looked out at the bullpen while dipping it up and down in the cup. The bullpen had begun to fill up with the usual suspects, but the two she most wanted to see, and bust, weren't showing their faces… _Yet!_

She sighed and took the mug out to the bullpen passing by Morgan just as he looked up at her. "Good morning baby-girl." He rumbled happily.

"I'll show you a good morning, hot stuff."

He frowned in her direction and dropped the file he'd been perusing while waiting for a call back from the lab. "Did something happen with Lynch?" He growled.

"What?" She wrinkled her brow in confusion.

"You don't look very happy. I just wondered if Lynch did something. I could talk to him for you." He cracked his knuckles.

"No! It's not him… Well, I guess you could blame it on him. We went out to dinner and kind of had a late night last night because -"

Morgan winced. "I don't need the gory details sweetness."

She smiled and waggled her eyebrows. "Sorry handsome… I'll just go to my office and let you get back to work."

She hurried off to her office and shut the door. The light from her computer monitors and the relatively quiet humming of the CPUs began to calm her nerves as they always did. Morgan was way too perceptive for his own good.

She put her cup on the desk next to her main terminal and sat down. The truth was that the date with Kevin had ended badly. He'd asked her out to a fancy restaurant because they'd been having problems. She'd wanted to work on their issues. The evening had gone well until they'd spotted Emily and Reid. He'd been willing to keep his mouth shut but it had sparked an argument about dating in the bureau. He'd baited her with Morgan again. She'd been so angry because she felt guilty. As her feelings toward Kevin had started to cool, old ones for Morgan had begun to resurface.

She picked up the cup and sipped her mint tea. What was she going to do? Also, she had the knowledge of Emily with her sweet boy to deal with now. Should she spill the beans or respect their obvious need for privacy? If it were she, would she want one of them to out her? Of course the answer had to be no!

She turned on the camera in the bullpen, resisting the urge to focus on Morgan. She saw that Emily had come in during her musings. She sat looking at her until Reid came in and sat down. She couldn't hear what they were saying though. She did see that Reid smiled at Emily the way Kevin used to smile at her. It hurt her heart and made her throat sting. She called up her email and sent a quick note to Emily. She needed to talk to her friend.

---

"What the hell are you trying to do?" Emily hissed like a goose as she slammed into Garcia's office without knocking two minutes later.

"Hello to you too, sunshine!"

"I'm not in the mood for jokes!"

She slapped the desk next to Garcia's cup of cooling tea. "What's with that email you just sent to me?"

"You tell me!"

"Garcia!"

"Okay... I'm sorry! I saw you with Reid at Omega last night!"

Emily slumped down in the chair next to Garcia. "Great… Did you tell Morgan? Does he think it's hilarious?" She jumped up again. "I better go head him off before he starts in on Spencer…"

"Wait!" Garcia grabbed her arm. "I didn't tell Morgan."

Emily narrowed her eyes at her almost former friend. "Really?"

"What do you take me for?"

Emily shut the door to the office and sat back down next to Garcia. "I'm sorry I doubted you. It's just that we wanted to wait and tell everyone because… Oh never mind. I don't know what I mean anymore."

"I'm sorry angel face. I'm just floored by the whole thing."

"Why?"

"Don't sound so offended. I just mean that I've been wondering when you'd get together. I'd actually given up on you two."

Emily crossed her arms over her chest as if cold. She tapped her foot impatiently on the floor. "Thank you very much."

"Come on, you have to admit that you've been looking at him like he's lunch for months now."

"I don't - I mean how did… Damn it! When did you get to be such a good profiler?"

"When will you people stop underestimating me?"

Emily laughed. "I'm sorry Goddess of the Tech Universe. What was I thinking?"

"You should be... Now I want to hear all the gory details."

"I don't kiss and tell!"

"I hope kissing isn't the only thing you've done."

"That's very funny! Why do we put up with you?"

Garcia leaned over and stage whispered. "Out with it! What's my gorgeous G-man like in bed?"

Emily felt hot blood rush to her face. She looked at the wheels on Garcia's chair instead of into a pair of mischievous dark eyes behind glasses with tortoise shell frames.

"Come on Emily!"

"Are you actually whining?"

"Yes! I need my vicarious thrills."

"You have a boyfriend," Emily pointed out.

Garcia began to work at her keyboard instead of looking at Emily.

"Garcia! Did something happen with Kevin?"

"I hate profilers!"

Emily smiled like the Cheshire cat. "I thought you wanted to be one of us?"

Garcia stopped typing. "I never said that."

Emily's smile faded. _What had happened to her friend's relationship? How long had it been going on? Had she been so wrapped up in her problems that she didn't see that Garcia suffered? _

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No… I want to talk about you and Reid."

"Please don't tell anyone. I don't want either of us to lose our jobs. I can't let him get hurt that way. He loves this job even if he can't stay out of trouble."

Garcia touched Emily's arm. "I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to."

"Thank you!" Relief flooded her blood and slowed her racing heart.

"No problem my dove. Now… Are you going to tell me about playing doctor with the good doctor?"

Emily's Cheshire cat smile returned. "I can tell you one thing." She said.

Garcia's eyebrows went into her hair. "Really? What?"

"It's the most erotic and exciting thing I've ever experienced," Emily continued in a low, husky tone.

"Oh yeah! Spill it sister!"

"Come closer," Emily leaned in her head toward Garcia. "You know what they say about the quiet ones." She said.

"Yeah…"

Emily moved in closer to whisper in Garcia's ear just as someone knocked on her door. She sat back in her chair grinning as JJ breezed in without waiting for an invitation. "There you are Emily. We have a case. I need you in the conference room now."

"Okay!"

Emily jumped up and followed JJ out the door. "Hey!" Garcia said.

"Sorry… Duty calls," Emily called back.

"You can run but you can't hide." Garcia growled.

---

"What are we going to do?" Reid whispered to Emily in the bullpen after the briefing.

"Shh…" Emily hissed at him.

"Emily!"

"We've got work to do. If we can't be professional then we deserve to get separated."

He stared at her until Morgan came into view. "You're right," He hissed. "I'm sorry."

"I know… We'll talk about it later."

He picked up his go bag, messenger bag, and left the room before Morgan could see and say something. Emily picked up her purse and bag as Morgan joined her in the bullpen.

"Hey Emily… Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure! You want to talk on the way to the plane?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"What's wrong?"

"It's Garcia. I think something's bothering her. I think maybe Lynch did something and I want to be sure before I have to kill him. I saw you go up to talk to her and -"

Emily, feeling an intense relief that Morgan seemed to be on the wrong track said, "She didn't tell me anything. JJ interrupted me before I could get her to spill her guts."

Guilt wormed back into her gut for it had been Garcia that was trying to get her to spill her guts about Reid. She should come clean so Morgan didn't go on assuming the worst.

"What do you think?"

The elevator doors closed on them and the car began to move down. "I think you need to let them work it out."

"But -"

"She doesn't need you to go all Neanderthal on him. Give it a rest."

He hit the side of the elevator with his left fist. "I care about her."

"Now there's a surprising revelation."

"I'm not joking Emily."

She touched his shoulder as the elevator came to a stop. "I know!"

"What do I do?"

"Fight for her!"

"She's dating another guy!"

"I know! But, I don't see a ring on her finger." She reminded him.

His face brightened considerably as they approached the SUV with the rest of their team. "See, there's always a bright side."

"Thanks Prentiss…"

"Any time," she smacked him on the bicep as he opened the door for her. "Let's go catch this guy."

---

Emily shut the door to her hotel room. Unfortunately, she had to share with JJ because of the lack of rooms.

_Stupid tourists!_

It wasn't that she didn't like JJ… She sighed loudly and dropped down on one of the full-sized beds. Everything had spiraled out of their control. Maybe it was better that they just came clean and take the consequences.

She picked up her bag and opened it. A shower would be just what she needed. She reached in and frowned. Something didn't feel right! She pulled out the material within and froze as a pair of familiar light blue cotton boxers came into view. What the hell?

She dumped out the bag and hissed like an angry cat. Somehow, she'd gotten a hold of Reid's bag. She looked at the offending object. How had she not noticed that the bags looked almost identical? Why hadn't Spencer noticed it?

She hurriedly swiped everything back into his bag and zipped it closed. Thank God, Spencer had a room to himself, if Morgan were there when Spencer decided to get changed…

She reached for her phone. They had to exchange bags before JJ came back from the press conference she was making at that very moment.

Then, the door opened and JJ entered the room. Too late! Now what was she going to do?

----

Reid pulled off his shirt, vest and cords. Dressed only in his boxers he grabbed his go bag and went to the bathroom. He shut the door and opened the bag. He reached in for his toiletries bag that should be in the left side of the bag. Instead, his fingers found something slippery that felt like… Oh, crap!

He pulled out one of Emily's bras. "How did this get in my bag?" He stared at the garment. Irrationally he wanted to smell it.

_Stop it! Have you lost your mind?_

He put his hand in the bag again and came up with one of her red blouses that he really liked. He had her bag by mistake. How had it happened? He remembered leaving his bag next to hers on her counter top the night before when she'd repacked hers. He had all fresh clothes in his from the day before and hadn't needed to go home for more. Somehow, they had been mixed up. Why hadn't he paid better attention?

He paced the bathroom. Should he call her and tell her. No, she was rooming with JJ. What if JJ was there? Perhaps he should just leave the bag by her door. No, that wouldn't work at all. Should he go to her door and give it to her. If JJ was there he could come up with an excuse.

He dropped his shoulders. He didn't know what to do. He went back to his room and picked up his phone. He'd call her and she'd have the answer!


	9. Safe as a House of Cards

**_Disclaimer: See my profile_**

**_Safe as a House of Cards_**

Emily slapped her phone shut just as JJ breezed into the room with her phone at her ear. "Hey baby boy… Are you being good for daddy? Mommy loves you…" She sat down on her bed, pulled off her shoes and made kissing noises into the phone.

_Wow… That was close_. Emily thought to herself as JJ continued her conversation.

_Go see Reid now while she's distracted!_

Emily froze like a deer in the headlights, which was very un Emily-like for her. It was more Reid-like. Perhaps she was becoming more like him with all the exposure. You know how they say people look more like each other or even like their pets because of close exposure. Were they spending so much time together that she'd begun to pick up his personality traits?

_Can you say paranoid?_

_He has some great traits outside crippling shyness, the tendency to babble when nervous and his very intimidating intelligence. _

"Emily!"

She looked up to see JJ staring at her. "I've been calling your name for five minutes now."

"Oh… I thought you were talking to Henry."

JJ brightened. "Yeah… He's so cute. Will said he gave him pudding and a spoon today. You should see the pictures Will sent me after Henry went to town."

She opened her phone and began scrolling through the latest photographs of her son. Henry seemed to have chocolate pudding all over his head, face and little body as he sat grinning in his high chair. He was pretty cute with his blond hair and big blue eyes. Maybe one of these days she could orchestrate Spencer babysitting his little godson and then she could just show up and observe the baby with her man. It might be good to see how good he was with kids because if he was good with Henry, then maybe -

"Emily!"

She looked up again to see JJ staring at her again. "You keep spacing out on me. What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking. What did you say?"

"I was talking about you and Reid."

"What about me and Reid?" Her face went hot at the Reid-like squeak in her voice.

JJ narrowed her eyes at her so Emily busied herself looking at the pictures on the phone. "I was just saying that everyone on the team's had the chance to baby sit except for you and Reid."

"Oh… Wait, you said everyone. Rossi actually did babysitting time?"

"No! I know there's no way he'd baby sit so I don't include him in my list of potential people to ambush."

"Oh right…"

"_Oh right! _That's all you have to say."

Emily's phone beeped, making her jump and curse herself for her reaction. "Prentiss…" She barked into the phone.

"_Emily?"_

Oh God… It was Reid. She smiled as brightly as she could to JJ.

"Hi mom!" She said.

"_What?"_

"No! I can't go to that party with you mom. I'm not going to be home."

"_Emily! What are you talking about?" _

"NO… I can't drop everything for you. I'll talk to you about it when I get home." She hung up on him and put her phone in her pocket.

"Just once I'd like to get a phone call from her where she says. "Hi Emily… How are you today dear? I was just thinking about you and wondering how you're doing." She said in a terrible imitation of her mother's voice.

"I'm sorry Emily I -"

"It's okay JJ. Look I need to get out of here for a few minutes. I can't concentrate on trying to sleep." She picked up Reid's bag and hurried out of the room with it, leaving JJ gaping at her retreating back.

----

Reid put his phone on the dresser that held a television that looked like had delivered it that day and sat down. JJ must have been in the room, which explained Emily's odd behavior, but not the tone of her voice. Well… It must be the fact that they'd mixed up their bags and needed to switch back. Should he go see her? No… That wouldn't be smart. If JJ were there, he would blow the whole thing. He couldn't do that to Emily. It was bad enough that Garcia knew. How long would she keep silent?

He started to pace. He loved Garcia like a sister, but he also knew her. She loved to gossip. What if she couldn't keep this to herself, even for him and Emily? A secret like this was too big to sit on for long, right.

_Well that's pretty conceited, don't you think?_

He stopped and sat down on the ugly light green bedspread. He was being silly of course. His life just wasn't that interesting. It wasn't as if he were the star of some overdone and overdramatic television show about the FBI. He laughed at that thought. Now that was funny!

Someone knocked on his door. He jumped and nearly fell off the edge of the bed. "Coming!" He tried to shout but it came out as a breathless shriek.

_Get a hold of yourself!_

He stood, straightened his tie, and almost fell over Emily's bag that he'd forgotten he'd dropped on the floor. Oh yeah… That would be great, explaining that to everyone!

"Spencer!"

His heart leapt at the sound of her voice. He went to the door, opened it and pulled her inside. "Hi…" He squeaked.

She dropped his go bag on the floor and picked up her bag from the foot of his bed. "Now… I have to get back before JJ gets suspicious."

"How did you get away?"

"I ran out while she tried to convince me to baby sit for her."

He couldn't help smiling. "She did?"

"Yeah…" Emily smirked back at him. "She has designs on you too."

"She does?" He squeaked."

"Yep…"

Spencer put one hand on her face and closed his eyes. "I love the feel of your skin."

"Don't start… I can't stay!"

"I know! I just needed to touch you. It's been a long day."

He opened his eyes just before she leaned in to kiss him. Her warm lips sent little shivers down his back, and stomach all the way to his toes. He opened his mouth for her tongue as she pulled him into her arms. Their bodies molded together. Emily dropped her bag again as Reid stumbled back to the bed with Emily falling onto him.

He pulled his mouth away from her with a loud pop. "We're supposed to get some rest before we have to get back to work." He reminded her.

"I know…"

"Emily, this isn't professional."

"Why are you talking?"

"Right!"

---

Emily closed the door to Reid's room and looked carefully left and right before heading down the hall to her room with JJ. She glanced at her watch and smiled. Barley twenty minutes had passed since she'd left her room. Her interlude with Reid had gone very fast and a little rough, but it had been highly exciting. She rubbed at the bite mark on her shoulder. She'd have to dress in the bathroom, but it was a small price to pay.

Fortunately, her room was at opposite ends of the hall with Reid's room. Morgan, Hotch, and Rossi all had rooms between them so she wouldn't be tempted to go back that night. One risk was enough even if it added to the romance.

She opened her door and disappeared inside. After the door closed, Hotch came around the corner from where he'd been watching since he'd seen her leave Reid's room. He opened the door to his room and went inside leaving both of them to their business.

---

JJ came out of the bathroom ten minutes after Emily had returned from Reid's room. Emily had put on her old white sleep pants and a pink tee shirt. Her clothes hid her love bites and she was in the middle of brushing the tangles out of her hair from Spencer's roaming hands. She loved it when he stroked her head and ran his fingers through her hair. It gave her goose bumps just thinking about it.

"Emily! When did you get back?" JJ asked as she pulled a white tank over her head.

"About ten minutes ago." Emily said absently wishing she were sleeping in Reid's arms instead of in a lonely double bed.

"Alright… Spill your guts. You run out of here when I mention babysitting for Henry as though the thought totally terrifies you and now you're back looking like you just got laid."

"What?"

JJ grinned. "I'm kidding… I know you're good Emily, but I also know that even you can't go down to the hotel bar, pick up some anonymous guy, do the deed and get back her in twenty minutes."

Emily played with her brush, pulling out hair and piling it in the little trash can she'd found next to the chest of drawers. "No… I couldn't do that."

"So what did you do?"

Emily kept her face down and her eyes on the light blue bedspread. "I went to get some hot chocolate at the diner. I needed the happy chemicals boost. This case is awful. I can't believe we don't have anywhere else to go tonight." She said, hoping to distract JJ.

"I know…" JJ flopped down on her bed and turned on her side to face Emily who'd put her brush on the night table between them. "I keep thinking, what if we get there too late."

Emily turned over on her back. "We can't save everyone. I know that's true, but it doesn't make it easier."

"Yeah… It's late. Let's get some sleep."

Emily crawled into bed, said goodnight to JJ and turned out the lights. She turned over on her side and looked at the orange light coming in under the blinds at the window. She shivered and wished for two arms and a warm, strong body holding her close. Her eyes began to sting… How much longer could they go on like this, lying to their friends and hiding? She hated lying. She'd made that clear more than once to Rossi and to Hotch and yet here she was lying to everyone she loved except for Spencer.

She rolled over on her back and sighed.

"You can tell me." JJ said from the dark. "I know something besides the case is bothering you."

"I can't JJ… I made a promise."

"Is it Reid?"

Emily froze. "What?"

"I see how you look at him Emily."

"I don't look at him any special way." She swallowed hard against the tears that always seemed to be near the surface these days.

"I may not be the big time profiler, but I have eyes." JJ said in a hurt tone. "You make up some excuse to me instead of trusting me. It hurts!"

"I can't JJ!" She said her voice breaking.

"Then I'll say it and you can pretend that I figured it out all on my own."

"I think -"

"Nope… I said I'd talk. You two got together sometime in the last two months."

Emily sniffed; she couldn't talk even if she wanted to.

"I'll take that as a yes. I'm happy for you, you know… He's a great guy. I went out on a date with him once."

"You did?"

"Yeah… Gideon gave him tickets to the Redskins for his birthday about four years ago. He sort of pushed Reid into asking me to go with him because I'm a huge fan."

"No…" Emily said, her sarcasm returning in her relief at being able to talk to someone outside of Spencer and Garcia. "I didn't know that!" She finished.

"Cute… So anyway, we went to the game. It was more fun than I thought it would be."

"Why aren't you - I mean why you didn't…?"

"There wasn't any spark. We both knew it even though I know he had a terrible crush on me. I just couldn't lead him on into thinking we'd be more than friends."

"Oh…"

"So, I know that look because I've seen it on his face, but he's never looked at me the way he looks at you. He loves you very much."

"I know…" Her voice broke and she was so grateful for the dark."

"Why are you here Emily? Why don't you go to him? Your little twenty minute, 'wham bam thank you ma'am' couldn't have been very satisfying for either of you."

"Very classy JJ," Emily laughed through her tears because her heart had begun to lift again.

"I just call it as I see it. You guys taught me that."

Emily reached out and turned on the light, blinding them both as they laughed. "Okay… You busted us. What's your silence going to cost us?"

"I told you… I need more babysitters!" JJ pushed her hair out of her eyes and smirked.

"I don't think so!"

"Come on, it might be fun to see what Spence is like with kids for future reference."

Emily picked up her pillow and threw it at JJ. The other woman burst out laughing and tossed it back across the room. "Go use up all that energy with Reid." She quipped waggling her eyebrows.

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because we're on a case. I can't stay in his room."

"You already took a ride on the Dr. Reid love train tonight."

"JJ! Stop talking about him like that." She threw her pillow hard at he blonde media specialist. "It was a stupid moment of weakness. It must be his eyes or something. I can't think straight when he looks at me."

"I'm going to have _so_ much fun with this!" JJ said happily.

"JJ!"

"Okay! I'll keep my mouth shut for now."

Emily reached over for the light.

"What are you doing? Get to Reid's room. It's getting late and I can't stand listening to you toss and turn all night because you want to f-

"Shut up! If I leave will you stop talking about Spencer like that?"

"I promise." JJ crossed her heart like a schoolchild.

Emily rolled her eyes and got out of bed for her slippers. "If I get caught by one of the guys, I'm coming after you." She promised her friend.

"I'm scared! Now go get 'em girl."

"I'm just going to sleep."

"Sure you are!'

Emily threw her pillow at JJ again and walked out of the room with as much dignity as is given the daughter of an Ambassador.

JJ lay back on her bed and wished she had Will next her. Maybe if they finished the case tomorrow she'd have a surprise for him when they got home. She shut out the light and snuggled down into her bed wishing for his warmth and wondering how long it would be before she got to hold her little boy again.


	10. Shot to the Heart

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_A/n hey all... Here's the next chapter. Thanks to all of you for your kind reviews and support. This is for you. _**

**_Shot to the Heart _**

Emily turned over to stare at Reid's travel alarm as it beeped. "Damn…" She muttered softly.

"Swearing won't make it stop." Reid said into her shoulder.

"I can try!"

He pushed himself up and reached over her head to shut off the clock. "See… all better!" He said as he turned on the light next to the bed.

"That's not funny Spencer. I have to go." She responded as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.

"I don't want you to go."

His chocolate eyes pleaded with her to stay while her brain said she needed to get back to her room. She decided to ignore the voice and melted into his embrace for a few short minutes.

"I really have to go," she said a bit breathlessly when he let her have the oxygen they both needed after a blood boiling kiss.

"Stay!" He held her close as though she'd just disappear if he let her go.

"Please don't make this harder than it has to be. I need to get back to my room before the rest of the team wakes up. We can't risk getting caught."

"JJ and Garcia know…" He reminded her. "Maybe we should just tell everyone."

"I don't want to tell everyone." She stood up and began searching for her slippers.

"Why?"

His tone stopped her in her tracks. "Spencer!"

"We might as well spill the beans, they're halfway spilled anyway." He quipped.

"Not funny! You know secrecy is the only way for us to keep our jobs. How do you think Strauss would react to us after everything that's happened this year?"

"I know she won't be happy, but at some point we have to stop thinking about our jobs and concentrate on us." He pushed off his covers and went to his closet for his robe. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were ashamed of me."

"I'm not ashamed of you."

"Sure you are…" He continued as they faced off across the bed. "Why wouldn't you be? I'm eleven years younger than you are. I'm a geek with three PhDs, and two BA degrees. My mother's in a mental institution. I have very little experience with women, and I go to Comic-Con every year."

"I love you for all those reasons!"

"Do you really? I'm not so sure of that anymore."

"Why are you suddenly so insecure?"

"Because I think we should just tell everyone and you're balking at the idea. I'm just wondering why that is if you're not ashamed of me."

"I just want more time for just the two of us. I thought that's what you wanted too."

"I do… I just don't want to have to hide. I love you Emily. I'm proud of you. I want everyone to know you chose me. I'm sick of sneaking around as though we're in the middle of some salacious affair." His eyes begged her to understand.

"Don't do that! I don't want to see that look in your eyes." She shouted at him.

"Don't yell at me!"

"We're adults Reid!" She snapped as he flinched. "Adults fight and they shout."

"I know!" He said quietly. "My mom and dad yelled at each other all the time for a year before he left us."

"Stop it!" She shouted. "You don't get to use that against me."

She grabbed her room key and stormed out leaving him standing there staring at the door.

---

Emily slammed into the room she shared with JJ and hurried to her bed. She heard the shower going in the bathroom and looked at the JJ's travel clock. Had only five minutes passed since she'd woken in Spencer's arms? She pulled off her shirt as she forced back the tears that wanted wet her cheeks. She'd taken off her sleep pants and pulled on her robe when she heard the door to the bathroom open.

"Oh… You're back. How was your night? I'll bet you left Reid looking like a fat satisfied cat after a bowl of cream."

Emily just stood looking at JJ as though she'd lost the ability to speak or understand English.

"What's wrong?" JJ's teasing smiled faded.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Emily!"

"No! I need to take a shower. It's after six and we have to meet the rest of the team in less than an hour." She grabbed her go bag and brushed by JJ into the bathroom.

She turned on the shower very hot and stepped in, hissing at the feel of the heat on her skin. The tears she'd been holding back with all her strength broke free and she cried, her tears as hot as the water pounding on her head.

---

"What did you find out for us Garcia?" Hotch asked, ignoring Emily's red eyes as she rushed in with a cup of coffee and took a reluctant seat next to Reid.

"I have an address for you on the outside of town. Saul's father inherited the family business when he turned twenty-one. It went bankrupt last year after his brother embezzled every penny he could get his greedy little hands on."

"That's our stressor." Rossi said.

"Why go on a murderous rampage just because he lost the business?" JJ asked.

"He's had a history of unstable behavior." Reid said. "It doesn't take very much to push someone ever the edge sometimes." He said keeping his eyes on his hands."

"Yeah… It doesn't take very much to set off some people." Emily agreed keeping her face on the file in front of her.

"Sometimes if you push someone hard enough, they snap. It's just human nature."

"I hate it when people make excuses for their behavior because it's human nature." Emily responded in a very reasonable tone.

"Okay… Why don't we get back to the facts of the case?" Hotch said.

"Sir… I have the address. I'll send it to your handhelds." Garcia said.

"Let's go." Hotch ordered.

Emily brushed past Reid as they left the small conference room to collect the locals and SWAT. Morgan watched Reid staring after her.

"What did you do this time?" He asked.

"I didn't do anything." Reid snapped and left the room.

"Do you ever feel like you've come in on the middle of a movie or a really interesting conversation?" Morgan asked JJ.

She clapped him upside the head. "Not now…" She said as she left the room and him standing there staring at her.

"Will someone please tell me what's been going on?" He said to the empty room.

---

The old farmhouse at the end of the rutted dirt road looked deserted as Hotch pulled into the driveway followed by other local police and SWAT agents. They left off their lights and sirens as they approached the house, as it was the only house on the lane.

The team exited the SUV waiting for them to split up into groups with local police and SWAT.

"Morgan, you, Rossi and JJ take the front; Emily, you and Reid come around to the back with me. Garcia said there's an old root cellar that's accessible from the back. Detective Strong, why don't you take that?"

The lead detective who resembled a retired linebacker nodded curtly and signaled to two of his team. Every team had one SWAT agent with them. The last three took positions outside the faded white painted house.

They took down the front and the back doors at the same time with the SWAT agents in front. Morgan and Rossi went left. Reid, Emily and Hotch with their SWAT agent took the creaking stairs to the second floor.

They could hear the others clearing the house but despite the noise, they didn't see or hear their target.

Hotch and his group communicated silently. Hotch and Reid split up as Emily and the SWAT agent took one side of the room and they took the other side. They kicked in doors and cleared rooms. Emily and her partner took down a door to a very dusty and junky space that looked like a storage room with one curtained window. The SWAT agent with her opened the door to what looked like a small closet as she covered him from the left. The closet was empty so she turned back to the hallway and the next room.

A sudden burst of gunfire had the SWAT agent pushing past her. It had sounded like it came from the room at the end of the hallway. She'd seen Reid and Hotch go into that room. Her heart sank all the way down to her toes as her heart began to race from a burst of adrenaline to her blood.

She ran in front of the SWAT agent, not hearing his voice in her earpiece. Her progress down the hallway to the door at its end reminded her of a dream she'd once had of running and not getting anywhere. It was as if she ran through glue, her feet sticking to the dirty carpeted floor. Then, she found herself at the door and running inside with her gun out heedless of the danger.

Hotch stood over the bleeding body of a man so average looking, she'd never look at him twice on the street. She couldn't tell if he was alive and it didn't matter because lying near the door was Spencer. He didn't move, nor did he bleed. She couldn't tell if he were breathing, if he were alive or dead.

"Oh God…" Her feet stumbled on the rug next to his head and she fell to her knees next to his unmoving body. She reached out and ran her hand through is hair, not caring if Hotch saw and knew all. "I'm sorry baby for what I said. Please don't die on me!"

"Emily!" Hotch snapped at Emily.

"Hotch -" She broke off at the look on his face and the sound of footsteps hurrying down the hallway.

Morgan, Rossi and JJ rushed into the room. "We heard the shots…" JJ began then she hurried over to Reid. "Oh God… Spence!"

His body suddenly jerked, he coughed, turned over and looked up at JJ. "Jeez that hurts…" He put his hand on his chest just over the section of his vest that had stopped the bullet fired from their killer's gun. "I tried to talk to him, but he didn't want to hear it." He coughed again.

JJ embraced him gently. "I'm glad you're alive so I can kill you for scaring the hell out of us again."

Reid laughed and then coughed. "I feel like a car ran over my chest."

"You're going to the hospital." Hotch said.

"I don't need to go to the hospital. Is he dead?" Reid indicated the man on the floor with a nod of his head.

"Yes…"

Reid glanced up at Emily, but she was looking at the dead man with a hatred he'd never seen on her face. Then it was gone and she pushed her way out of the room.

"Hey kid…" Morgan crouched down beside him. "You gotta learn how to duck."

"I can't outwit a speeding bullet Morgan." He snapped.

"I never said you were Superman."

"Morgan… I'm not in the mood."

"You better watch out. I think you pissed off Prentiss."

"Why should she be mad at me?" Reid said through gritted teeth.

The paramedics entered the room with a stretcher and a C-collar. "I don't need all that." Reid protested going very red in the face while grateful for the cover of being embarrassed about the C-collar.

"Standard procedure," the paramedics said as they lifted him onto the stretcher.

Morgan followed him down the stairs and out to the ambulance. Emily stood away from the door on the porch as they brought Reid by. He noticed that she avoided looking at Reid as they took him away.

"Hey Prentiss… What's got your skirt in a twist?"

"I'm not wearing a skirt!"

"I know that… He put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey… I know the kid gets into a lot of trouble, but he's okay. He had his vest on."

"I know all that Morgan. Leave me alone."

She stalked away down the stairs to their SUV.

"What's with her?" Morgan said to Rossi who'd joined him on the porch of the house.

"You're going to have to figure it out all on your own." He patted the younger man on the back and headed out to the truck.

"Does everyone know something I don't know?" He said to no one in particular.

He watched Emily standing next to the SUV watching the ambulance trundle slowly down the pitted dirt road to the main highway. She turned back toward the house for just long enough for him to see tears on her cheek, which she wiped away hastily as he looked at her.

He grinned back at her and gave her the thumbs up. She actually blushed and hurried to get in the car. Someone walked up behind him with familiar footsteps "Why am I always the last to know the good stuff." He said sounding like Christmas had come early.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Hotch said as he left Morgan to his thoughts and plans of who he'd tease first, Emily or Reid.


	11. Out in the Open

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_a/n hello all... Here's the final chapter. The secret of who messed with Emily's car will be revealed. Thanks for all you kind support. This has been alot of fun._**

**_Out in the Open _**

Reid sat up on the edge of the exam room bed and picked at the edge of the gown he wore over his slacks and bare chest. He tried to think of anything but Emily, and how much it hurt, that she didn't understand his desire to be open with the rest of the team.

The light blue curtains around his exam room rustled and someone slipped into the cubicle. He looked at his dirty blue converse shoes as his legs swung back and forth instead of the person entering the space.

"Hey…"

His heart began thudding like crazy against his chest at the sound of her voice, but he didn't look up.

"Hi…" He said trying to sound as though he didn't care.

"I talked to Hotch. He said you're fine."

"Yeah…"

A pair of legs wearing black jeans and matching black running shoes entered his line of vision. "I'm sorry!"

"Okay…"

One hand reached out for him. He pulled away and the hand left his line of vision. "Please talk to me Spencer."

"I'm tired, my chest really hurts and I'm furious with you."

"I know…"

"I love you and you…" His voice cracked. "I just wanted - I'm sorry… I don't know what to say to -"

The hand returned to his shoulder, touching him gently. "Why are you apologizing Spencer?"

"Because I - actually I don't know." He finally looked up at her.

Her eyes were bloodshot from crying. Several locks of her hair had pulled free from her ponytail and her body shook.

"I'm sorry… You were right, I was ashamed."

He hung his head trying not to cry now that it was over for good.

"Please look at me." She pleaded.

"No!" He croaked.

"I'm not ashamed of you Spencer." She sat down next to him and took hold of his left hand even as he tried to pull away. "I'm so proud of you. It made me angry with myself and embarrassed that it took so long to grab hold of our love. I've been ashamed of my cowardice. I should have cared more about your feelings."

As she'd spoke, voicing all of the fears and feelings he'd had about himself, something broke free inside. "Will you forgive me?" Reid said squeezing her hand. "I was ashamed that I cared more about my job than you for a long time. Then, I decided that I had to tell everyone to make up for that. I'm sorry!"

She smiled and his legs tingled. "How about we talk to everyone on the plane tonight?"

"Do you really think we'll have to? Hotch knows now I think, and JJ and Garcia. It just leaves Morgan and Rossi and I think they probably have it figured out by now. In fact, I'm waiting for Morgan to come bursting in here to laugh."

"He won't bother you." She promised. "I'll kick his ass."

"You're so sexy when you threaten Morgan with bodily harm."

"You're seriously twisted." She laughed leaning in for a kiss.

Emily laughed against his mouth. He reached up and put his hands on the sides of her face keeping her mouth smashed to his. The frantic beating of his heart slowed rather than increased as her tongue probed his mouth licking his teeth. The tingling in his feet moved up his legs all the way to his stomach as the kiss deepened.

"Ah hmm…" Someone said.

They jumped apart. Emily nearly fell off the bed as a tall, distinguished man with a full head of thick white hair entered the examination cubicle. "I was going to offer this young man some pain killers, but it looks like the TLC of a beautiful woman is doing you wonders young man."

It was hard to say who was blushing deeper, Reid or Emily as the doctor smiled at them. "I'm Dr. Jonas. You're a very lucky young man." He addressed Reid. "It's a good thing you had that vest on or you'd have a large hole in your chest. Instead, you have a bruised sternum and various other bumps and contusions. I'm going to release you with a script for pain meds. I don't want him doing _anything_ strenuous for a few days." He winked at Emily as Reid blushed.

"Don't worry… I'll make sure he stays out of trouble."

"I'm in the room!" Reid squeaked.

"We know son…" The doctor said suddenly serious. "Make sure you behave."

"Yes sir!"

"I'll have Lisa bring in your release paper and your prescription."

"I can't have narcotics." Reid said.

"I know… I talked to your boss. He's a very formidable man, by the way," the doctor said with a smile.

"Yeah…" Emily and Reid said together.

"Don't worry, I wrote out a script for Tylenol for you." He put a kind hand on Reid's shoulder. "Follow up with your doctor tomorrow."

"Yes sir!"

---

Emily sat watching Reid sleep on the bench of the jet. He'd conked out right after take off. So far, no one had said anything to her about their secret. She relaxed, letting her head fall back against the headrest of her seat and closed her eyes. A little sleep would be just the thing.

"So Prentiss…." Her eyes popped open as Morgan sat down next to her. "Why didn't you tell me you've been playing Mrs. Robinson to our young genius?"

"Morgan!" Hotch said from his seat at the back of the plane.

"A fair question since you all seemed to know but I didn't," Morgan complained.

"Well…" Emily began. "We didn't run out and tell you because you can't resist teasing Spencer every time he does something remotely out of his ordinary."

"Of course, it's my job as his partner, friend and substitute older brother."

"Give it a rest!" She said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm interested in my friend's happiness." Morgan said suddenly getting serious.

"Fine! I'm sorry we didn't call you and make an announcement."

"When exactly would this have been, had you called me?" Morgan asked, stretching out his legs and groaning in pleasure.

Emily looked around and noticed that Rossi, JJ and Hotch were all listening intently to the conversation. "It was the night you helped Reid move to his new place. The snowstorm caught me off guard and someone tampered with the ignition wire in my car. You all wouldn't happen to know who did that would you."

Everyone made eye contact with her, but no one admitted fault with the car. She stared everyone down in turn, as the silence stretched out looking for a sign. "Okay… I guess I'll have to blame it on some random stranger on the street who didn't have anything better to do than tamper with my car. It was unlocked. Why not steal it instead of just loosening a wire?"

No one spoke.

"Okay… Then I guess that's all you need to know about that night."

"You got stranded with Reid," Morgan said looking delighted. "Where did you sleep?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I stayed on the pullout." She lied smoothly.

"Morgan… I have a headache." Hotch said.

"I'll be quiet, but sleeping won't keep Reid safe from me for long." He promised, looking over at the sleeping form of his friend.

Emily suddenly turned to look at Hotch. "I'm sorry we weren't up front with you. I didn't want to make your dealings with Strauss worse."

"Strauss and I have an understanding. She knows the value of keeping this team intact. Still… I'm very disappointed that you didn't come and talk to me and trust in me."

"We are sorry." Reid said suddenly from his couch. He yawned, and stretched in a way that made Emily's insides go to jelly.

"I know… Don't let it happen again." Hotch ordered looking his sternest.

"We won't," they said in unison.

"So Reid," Morgan began as Hotch rolled his eyes. "Did you really make Prentiss sleep on the couch?"

---

Emily's brownstone was dark except for a few burning candles. Soft music played in the background as she danced with Reid, who'd improved his skills a bit in the last few days since he'd been staying with her as his nurse.

"How's your chest?" She asked as her head rested on his shoulder.

"Ten minutes," he said relishing the feel of her breath on his neck.

"What?"

"It's been ten minutes since the last time you asked me that." He said.

Shadows from the candles danced with them as the music changed again. Emily pulled back to look up at him. "I've been a bit of a nag, haven't I?"

"Yeah!"

She punched him on the shoulder. "You're supposed to say. 'Why no Emily, I appreciate everything you've done for me over the last four days.' Then I'll say, 'you're very welcome." She said.

"Oh sorry!"

"Alright, you don't have to look so repentant. I promise not to nag if you tell me who you think tampered with my car. None of them will admit to it. I have my ideas and I want to know if you think so too."

He looked into her lovely face and dark eyes that looked so mysterious in the candlelight. He named the person she suspected and they grinned. "Do you think he'll ever admit it?" She asked returning her head to her favorite place in the hollow of his shoulder.

"Does it matter?"

"No… I guess it doesn't matter."

"Why don't we go upstairs and I'll show you what does matter to me?"

"Well… How can a girl resist a come on like that?"

---

"So how did your meeting go with Strauss?" Rossi said from the doorway to Hotch's office on the afternoon Emily and Spencer had come back to work.

"We reached an understanding. She said the first time either of them is unprofessional, both of them will get the boot."

"They're too good for that."

"I hope you're right."

"Come on Aaron… You know you can trust them."

"Yeah…" He left his chair and pulled on his coat. "I'm going to be late for dinner with Jack if I don't get a move on it."

"I'm glad you have a reason to get out of here at a decent hour."

"Me too…"

They moved above the bullpen, smirking at each other as Morgan teased Reid and Emily tried to make him stop. Garcia and JJ looked on laughing at them while the other agents in the room pretended to work.

"So…" Rossi said to Hotch as the elevator doors opened. "When are you going to tell Emily you tampered with her car that night."

Hotch's answering smile was as enigmatic as his usual scowl. "What ever gave you that idea Dave? That would be meddling and you know I don't do that on my team."

The doors closed on them as Rossi said, "Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night Aaron."

_**THE END **_


End file.
